More Than Together II
by seilleanmor
Summary: A thirty day fanfiction challenge. Each chapter is based on a prompt word. In the same universe, but not chronological. Each is exactly one thousand words. SPOILERS for all US aired episodes.
1. End

**A/N:** You don't need to have read the first _More Than Together_ to understand what's going on here, but it may help to fill in some gaps. This universe goes AU at the very end of _Watershed_; Kate doesn't take the DC job and tells Castle to shelve his proposal until they figure out where they stand.

* * *

**End**

* * *

"I love this apartment." Kate says morosely, taking a slow sweep of her space. It's unrecognisable now, all of her possessions packed away into boxes that stack like cinder blocks. A miniature version of the city contained inside the walls of her loft.

Leaning back against the kitchen island, she feels the bite of the switches for the burners low down at her lumbar curve, has to shift positions. So many memories in this kitchen. How the opening up of herself to Castle meant also allowing him to share her space.

She hasn't cooked only for herself in a very long time. And now, preparing a meal comes with the shift of her body around Rick's, all the ways he tries to distract her from what she's doing. Usually quite successfully, so she's taken to ushering him away. Sending him off to spend time with Nikki until she's done and she gets to set down the food she's crafted in front of him, wait for the lift of his eyebrows and his soft murmurs of appreciation.

His hands fall hot at her hips and he drags her lower body against his, leans in to push his mouth at hers. Letting him have this moment, she lifts up into his touch and touches her tongue to the corner of his mouth, delighting in the growl that rumbles out of him.

"Do you want to give it a proper send off?" He asks, leering at her. But underneath, she sees true concern. They've spent a lot of time talking it out. The logistics of her moving into his loft rather than the other way around.

And he's promised that they can decorate his own apartment, fill it with her things too so the loft is comfortable and familiar for the both of them. "No. We did that last night. I want to go home."

Most everything of her everyday life is already at Castle's apartment. They'd already been essentially living together before his proposal; they agreed that they'd move in together for real before he asked again. And he will ask again, she hopes soon.

They both know she'll say yes.

"Hey?" He says quietly, leaning down to rest his forehead against hers. "I am so grateful to share a life with you."

Settling a hand at his cheek, Kate presses a kiss to the swell of his bottom lip and hums into it, the fingers of her free hand curling in his waistband as if to hold him in place. "Me too, babe."

"The moving guys should be here any minute." Castle says, breaking away from her to stride over to her living room windows. They're enormous, and even if she doesn't have a fantastic view of the park or anything like that, Rick has always been drawn to them.

There has been times when she's slipped out from between the too-cool mass of the sheets in the middle of the night to find him here, watching the hum and swirl of the city beneath his feet. Sometimes she'd tug him back to bed with her, but sometimes instead she'd make tea for them both and stand at his side, try to see it the way his writer's brain does.

"I'll miss this."

"Your loft has windows too." She laughs, heading over to nudge her shoulder against his bicep. In flats today to make the manoeuvring of her life easier, and so it feels just like those nights, small enough to fold herself up inside of him.

He glances down at her, the corner of his mouth lifting and sending her heart clattering into silly tenderness. Lifting up onto tiptoe, Kate touches her lips just there, at the place where his amusement creases. The heat of Castle's chest is warm and good against her own and she hums, nuzzles into him.

"This apartment has been so important to us. To our relationship."

"Our worst fights." She fires right back, steadfastly refusing to let him get maudlin. "It's just an apartment, Rick. The real history is you and me. And now we're moving forward, together."

His eyes crease at the corners and he takes a step backward, tangling his fingers with hers to pull her away from the windows as well. "I must admit, I'm really looking forward to waking up beside you every morning and having you come home to me every night."

"I've been doing that anyway." She needles him, darting just out of reach when he tries to snag her and bring her in for an embrace. Their voices echo without her possessions around to dampen the sound and she feels a little foolish with it, bubbling over with amusement like a little kid. Joyful, too, at finally having made it here.

Eventually, she lets him catch her and loops her arms low around his hips, leaning back enough that she can tilt her chin to look up at him. He's huffing, but his eyes are soft and adoring on hers. "You have. That's true. But, for always, Kate. I can't wait."

"No more waiting." She agrees, and then there's a knock at the door and she untangles herself from his embrace to let the moving guys inside. There aren't many boxes to transport across town, not really. The amalgamation of their lives has been piecemeal, happening almost without either of them noticing until one day, the two of them at her apartment to let Alexis host a gathering with some college friends.

Kate had routed through her closet in search of something cosy to wear and burrow down in before she realised that almost all of her clothes were at Castle's loft. Her books, too, and her ornaments and cosmetics and really everything.

She had turned to him and said _I don't want to renew my lease_. The flood of his grin had been beautiful but really, unwarranted. She didn't ask if she could move in, because she already had. And today, nothing changes except her official address.

* * *

**Tumblr:** katiehoughton

**Twitter:** seilleanmor


	2. Recovery

**Recovery**

* * *

"You got him?" Kate murmurs, sitting sideways on the mattress with her sneaker-clad feet just scraping the floor. She's exhausted; her body aches and she's dreading the walk to the car.

But by the door, her husband stands with their newborn son in the carrier. Her little boy, and she is so much in love with him already that even the low down ache, even the lurid bruising around the stitches seems to just fade into insignificance.

Jack scared them all with his hurried arrival, three and a half weeks before his due date. Her contractions came too fast, the pain flooring her with its immediate intensity, and then her water broke in their bed and Castle sat up gasping, only had to glance at her face in the velvet darkness to know that it was time.

The rest is a blur. She didn't pay much attention to what was happening around her, mindlessly following the instructions of the doctors as she focused all her energy on pleading with her little boy to slow down, stay warm and safe inside of her.

And then they were telling her that their son's heart was beating too slowly, that they were going to have to hurry things along. Castle still has the angry crescent moons carved into his palm from where she clutched at him as their son was dragged into the world.

Her whole body cried out in protest when her baby was taken away to be checked over, but eventually they placed him on her chest. Half-cleaned, one eye open as he squinted angrily up at the world. She was crying, Rick was crying, but their baby boy was quiet and so beautiful.

"I've got him."

The carrier in one arm, Castle comes to her side and curls his free hand at her elbow, helps her to make it to standing. Between them, the carrier knocks into her hip and she glances down at the sleeping face of her perfect son, reaches inside to smooth a finger over his cheek.

"Hey Jack. You ready to go home?" She hums, not really wanting to wake him. Just. . .needing to have him hear her voice. Their son.

She still can't believe it. Together, she and Castle made a person, whose whole life spans ahead of him rich and wonderful. At her side, her husband lets out a choked noise and hooks his arm around her shoulders, draws her slowly into his embrace. "I love you. Kate. I can't tell you how much. Thank you for our son."

* * *

Once they're safely back at the loft, Kate settles down on the couch with Jack in the carrier at her feet. Rick doesn't miss her hiss of discomfort as she sits, but then she's staring down at their baby and her face is rich with love in a way that he's never seen before, not even on their wedding day.

He slips away to their bedroom to fetch the bassinet. They hadn't set it up yet, so although the nursery is finished - pale grey walls with white furniture and navy accents that Kate has poured her soul into - their own bedroom is not set up for the arrival of their son.

It hits him every few minutes and he has to stop, suck in a deep breath and let the ridiculous grin take over his face for just a moment. He has a son. He has a little boy with Kate Beckett and nothing, not even Alexis, has ever felt so right and perfect.

With his daughter's birth came vast, cresting waves of terror. He didn't know if he could do it, be the father that his baby girl needed. But now he has twenty three years' experience under his belt. And he has a partner to share in all of it with.

Maybe it's silly, and almost certainly it won't last, but he's confident about this. He and Kate are going to be so good at this.

"Castle?" Her voice rings out, a note of desperation making it pitch higher than he's used to and he hurries back to the living room, finds her looking caged in and desperate.

"What's wrong?"

"He's awake." She waves a hand; sure enough, their baby is wide-eyed in the carrier. Still the stunning blue of a newborn, but darkening by the hour. "I just. . .wanted to hold him. But I couldn't stretch to do it."

He knows the stitches hurt her, and that the way it renders her unable to manage alone is a harder blow to suffer. Kneeling down in front of the carrier, Rick unfastens the buckle and lifts their son, cradling Jack to his chest and pressing a kiss to the dusty covering of his hair before he hands the baby over to his mother.

Settling by her side on the couch, Castle spans a palm at Jackson's back and leans in to kiss his wife. In it, he tries to pour the unfathomable depth of his adoration. Bar Alexis, everything he treasures most in the world has been given to him by Kate, and gratitude threatens to swallow him whole.

"Hey. You gave birth yesterday. It'll take a little time to bounce back. And in the meantime, I'm right here." Honestly, he can't imagine leaving her side again.

He knew she was strong, knew she was a force to be reckoned with, but watching her yesterday as she delivered their son - and there was no time for pain relief - he had been stunned by the extent of her courage. And he wants to tell her, thank her for the tiny person curled against the warmth of her chest. Every day.

"I love you. And I'm so proud of you."

She flushes, buries her face at his neck and he laughs against her crown. He feels the brush of her eyelashes to his skin and then she's sitting up, scattering soft kisses to their son's cheeks. "I love you both so much."


	3. Jealous

**Jealous**

* * *

"Jackson." Castle calls out softly, stepping inside the cool walls of his son's room and closing the door behind himself. The late afternoon light comes lazy through the windows and Castle draws the blinds down but leaves them slatted open, watches the lines of vibrant gold and shadow like a crosswalk leading right up to the door of the closet. And then a little face peeks around and Rick sinks to his knees in the middle of the floor, offers a tentative smile to his son. "Hi, my man. What are you doing?"

"I playing with mine toys. I not share with baby girl."

Oh. Okay, huh. That makes. . .a great deal of sense, actually. "Is this because of what we talked about?" A nod from his son and a quavering bottom lip, and Castle pushes a palm to his forehead. He's a good father, he knows that, but his wife is better at this part. At bringing their little boy out of his moods and his shyness and making him smile again. "Come cuddle with Daddy."

It takes a moment, but Jack does come out from his hiding place and toddle across the floor, snuggling right down into his father's lap. His hands are sticky - when aren't they - and he plants one at Rick's cheek, looks at him seriously. "I not share."

"You don't have to." Castle murmurs to the squirmy little boy in his lap, wrapping his arms tight in a hug that has Jack choking out a laugh. "Bea is too young for your cool toys right now, buddy. All she wants is lots and lots of cuddles and sleep."

A month old, most of Beatrice's interest is in her mother's breasts at the moment, which Rick finds equal parts utterly delightful and entirely inappropriate to share with his son. "She cuddles Mommy."

"She does. Mommy gives good cuddles, don't you think so?"

"The bestest." Jack giggles, burying his little face against the skin of Castle's neck. And then he sits up again, frowning, and pats Rick's jaw. "Ouch, Daddy."

Right. He hasn't shaved the past couple days and his stubble is bristling and sharp. It makes Kate sigh and arch and look wistfully at him, makes their son pout and whine in an entirely different way to his mother. "Sorry kid. But listen. When Bea is old enough to play with toys, she'll need someone to show her all of the best games. Someone to show her how to have fun."

"I do it." Jack shrieks, grinning wide and gorgeous and so much like his mother. "I play with her."

Laughing, Castle flutters his fingers underneath his son's chin to tickle the boy, presses a smacking kiss to his cheek. "That's right, my man. She's going to need her big brother to teach her."

"Okay, Daddy." Jack says, his face suddenly serious. That's Kate too, that ability to flit from amusement to somberness and back again with ease.

Standing slowly and ignoring the muted protest from his knee, Castle swings his son up into his arms and around, letting the boy ride on him piggy-back style all the way down the stairs. Rick left his wife on the couch with their baby girl and now Kate hears them on the stairs, cranes her neck to see.

Bea is asleep in the crook of her arm, but Kate holds her other out away from her body and gestures for them to join her. "Hi, my boys."

"Hi Mommy." Jack whispers, already well-versed in keeping it quiet around the baby when she's sleeping. And then he's splaying a hand at Beatrice's belly, seemingly transfixed with the slow rise and collapse of her chest as she breathes. "Hi, my sister."

"What were you two doing upstairs?" Kate asks, stroking her index finger over the curve of their son's cheek and tapping the end of his nose, making him erupt in giggles. "Having fun without me?"

Castle kisses her for that, the corner of her mouth, and slides his arm around her shoulders until he's got all three of them in his embrace. "We were talking man to man, right buddy?"

"When Bea is bigger I can help her play." Jack tells his mother and she laughs, reaches out to card a hand through his hair.

It still takes Rick by surprise. Obviously, he knew that Kate Beckett would be an amazing mother, but he had no idea how much she would _adore_ their kids. She's completely over the moon for both of them and it shows in everything she does, every look and touch and all the times she whispers softly against tiny ears to send them to sleep.

"You're gonna be the best big brother ever, right buddy?" Castle says to his son, bouncing his knee to jostle the boy.

Kate hums and touches her thumb to Rick's cheek, holds him in place as she kisses their son's forehead. "You already are, my sweet boy."

She shifts a little until she can pillow her head at Castle's shoulder and he clutches her tighter, touches his fingertips to the crown of his daughter's head. So much hair, just like her brother and yes, Alexis too. The girl doesn't stir, but in his lap Jack is getting restless, struggling against the arm Rick has banded around his waist.

He lets go, lets their son slither down onto the floor and takes the baby from Kate, delights in the weight and the warmth of his youngest against his chest. Jack has a toy truck that he drives around the perimeter of the rug and Rick watches his son play, so grateful for his wife at his side.

"He's alright. I was a little worried when I found him hiding." He admits, his mouth just skimming Kate's temple.

A hand comes to his knee and she squeezes, nose to nose with their baby girl against his chest. "Babe, he has the best possible example to follow."

He's _not_ crying.

Much.


	4. Healed

**Healed**

* * *

Martha was taking care of the kids when it happened.

Holed up at the precinct with her husband trapped in Black Pawn meetings all day, Kate had answered the phone expecting her mother-in-law and instead been greeted with the great, hulking sobs of her five year old. _Mommy I hurt my knee_ choked out between tremulous breaths, and she had done all she could to soothe from afar.

Now, a week or so later, Bea is curled up in the big bed with her head pillowed against her mother's stomach as Kate reads to the girl. The boys are upstairs, Jack eager to explain all about his new action figures to his daddy, and Beckett is glad for it. Means she can have some quiet time with her best girl.

She's hoping that Rick won't come back for a while, that she can just curl up with her daughter and watch Beatrice sleep. The slackening of her face and the slow pressing together of her lips over and over again. Her heart aches, she loves her children so much.

"How's your knee, beautiful girl?"

"Oh, Mama!" Bea gasps, sitting up in the bed and folding her legs underneath herself, bouncing a little. "In the bath today me and Daddy looked and it is all better."

There had been a whole lot of coddling when Kate had eventually gotten home from work that night, Castle having picked the kids up from his mother's place after his meetings were over. Bea had ensconced herself on the couch with a parent on either side of her, both Kate and her husband doting on their baby girl.

Jack, too, had pulled silly faces in an effort to work his sister out of her funk. And Kate had been so glad for it. For so long, she holed up alone in her apartment and hurt alone; she doesn't ever want her children to do that to themselves. She needs them to grow with the knowledge that it's okay to let someone take care of you.

Especially when that someone is Rick Castle. "Can I see?"

Pushing up the leg of Bea's pajama pants, Kate flutters her fingers to tickle the girl and gets a wriggle of pleasure in return. She leans down to press a soft kiss to the slightly darker strip of skin at her daughter's knee where the wound had scabbed over and then peeled off.

"Wow, you have a battle wound, huh?" Kate grins, tugging the pants' leg down again and cupping her daughter's heel in a palm, lifting to press a kiss to the sole of Bea's foot. She tastes fresh and clean having just come out of the bathtub and Kate blows a raspberry, shares a laugh with her baby girl.

Rolling onto her stomach, Bea throws an arm over Kate's chest and squeezes tight, the wild spill of her curls tickling at Beckett's cheeks. "I'm so brave, Mommy."

"You are." Kate hums, closes her eyes to let the sleepy heat of her little girl soak right into her. "I'm so proud of you."

Cracking wide open on a yawn, Bea reaches up to scrub at her eyes with little fists, nuzzling her face into the soft cotton of Kate's shirt and letting out a sigh. "I'm sleepy."

"You can fall asleep right here, baby girl. I'll carry you up to bed in a little while." Kate hums, her mouth just skirting the fullness of her daughter's cheek.

It's. . .yeah- amazing. How completely perfect the weight of this little body in her arms is, how her heart sings out whenever either of her children is near.

"Will you-" Bea yawns again, giggling a little in amusement at her own adorable self. "Tell me a story?"

Kate keeps her daughter close with one arm and sits up enough to shift the pillows at her back, arrange them so she can lie down and ease Bea to curl in the hollowed-out space next to her mother's body. Reaching down, she tugs the sheets up over the both of them and flicks off the bedside lamp, closes her eyes as she feels her baby girl relax in increments against her.

There's no need for the book; she knows the _Madeline_ story that Beatrice requested off by heart. It's not long before her daughter's breathing evens out but Kate carries on, sure that even on some subconscious level Bea won't want the story to go unfinished.

"That's all there is; there isn't any more." Kate finally murmurs, letting herself have a handful more minutes to just enjoy this, right here, before she eases out of the bed and gathers her little girl close against her. Still - almost subconsciously - mindful of her knee, although Bea is right; it's all better.

The loft is dark as she weaves through the living room but it's been ten years since she moved in and she knows this place better than any apartment she's ever had. When she makes it to her daughter's room, Kate settles the girl carefully into her own bed and tucks her in, staying on her knees at Bea's side as if in prayer.

And then she can get up, sure that Bea is safe and still breathing and peaceful in her sleep. Because yes, it was just a grazed knee, but hearing her daughter cry on the other end of a phone call and being unable to be there to kiss it better and wipe away the tears has left her wracked with guilt for much of the week. Castle keeps sighing at her, telling her not to be ridiculous, but she only wants to keep them safe. To be there for comfort or laughter or whatever it is that they need.

Her husband is waiting on the couch for her when she makes it back downstairs and she curls up at his side, grateful that he doesn't even have to ask. He just kisses her cheek, and lets it go unspoken.


	5. Whole

**Whole**

* * *

"Hey Mom." Bea calls out, spilling through the front door of her family's loft and shucking off her backpack. She drops the thing at her feet - weighs a ton - and rolls her shoulders, scanning the living room for either one of her parents. "Look who I found in the lobby."

At that, her mother's head comes poking out of the office, the book she must have been curled up with still clutched in one hand. "Who?"

"Jack-Jack." Beatrice laughs, stepping out of the way to let her big brother stride across the living room and meet his mother in the doorway, catching her up in a bone-crushing hug.

Watching from afar, Bea grins at how her mother buries her face in Jack's neck, hands ever more slender and delicate with age coming up to cup the wings of his shoulder blades. Jack's hugs are the best; if Bea had ever forgotten, the embrace her brother just gave her in the lobby reminded her anew.

"What are you doing here?" Their mother says, struggling her way out of Jack's arms to plant her hands at his biceps, hold him still so she can rake her eyes over him. Bea's brother has come back from college somehow, impossibly, taller. There's a scattering of stubble at his jaw that wasn't there when he left in January and his hair is longer, allowed to curl slightly.

Jack laughs, leans in to kiss their mother's cheek and dropping his backpack onto the armchair at his hip. "Classes for tomorrow got cancelled. So I came home early."

"I'm so glad." Mom enthuses, cupping Jack's cheeks a moment and grinning wide before she lets him go and half-turns, glancing back inside of the office. "Rick, come here."

Their father comes clattering through from the bedroom and careens to a stop in the doorway, his whole face splitting open with delight when he sees Jack standing there. "My son, you have returned."

"Hey Dad." Jack beams, opening his arms to their father and hugging him just as tight as he did Mom. Hovering a moment by the front door, Bea shrugs her shoulders out of her jacket and hangs it in the coat closet.

It's an old leather one of Mom's that she appropriated and she feels totally badass in it, basks in the compliments that her friends at school always lavish her with when she wears it. Probably something to do with the fact that all of her friends are a little in awe of Bea's mother, but even so it sends delight cascading through her.

Across the room, their mother beckons for Beatrice to come join in and she does so, wriggling in delight when she ends up sandwiched next to her brother in between both of their parents. It's been so weird since Jack left for college, suddenly thrust into being an only child, and she's so grateful to have her brother home for spring break and their family's dynamic restored.

"We should go out to dinner. Celebrate." Dad says laughingly, ruffling Jack's hair and ducking out of the way when Bea's brother tries to do the same right back.

Mom comes in between them, that dangerously flint-like edge to her eyebrow that has always made both Jack and Bea stop whatever they're doing without question. "You up for dinner?"

"Sure." Jack grins, nudging his elbow into their father's side and smirking even before he says it. "Is the old man?"

Dad opens his mouth to object and Mom leans in, silences him with a kiss to the cheek that makes Bea wrinkle her nose in disgust, Jack making fake gagging sounds. It does seem to have distracted Dad from his affront, though, and then it's a race to gather coats and shoes.

Following her mother, Bea heads into her parents' bedroom and settles cross-legged on top of the sheets, watches Mom find the earrings Jack got for her fifty-fifth birthday last year and fix them at her ears.

Her hair is that graceful silver-grey, swept back in a chignon at her nape and it makes the stunning simplicity of the diamond earrings the focal point of her mother's whole outfit. "You look nice."

"Too much for family dinner?" Bea's mother asks, turning to sit at the end of the bed and slip on her heels. Feeling childlike, Beatrice comes forward to drape her arms over her mother's shoulders and embrace her from behind, cheek to cheek.

"Not at all. It's really good to have him home, huh?"

At that, Mom shifts and circles an arm at Bea's waist, tugging until she spills into her mother's lap. She's a junior now, seventeen, and she does her utmost to be mature. Tries to emulate her mother's grace and easy confidence as best she can. But with her big brother home, she feels like maybe it's okay to be the baby again.

Mom's fingers stroke through her hair, thumb at her temple, and Bea grins. An upside to Jack being gone is that she hasn't had to share her Mom with anybody except Dad. And yes. . .she's not too proud to admit that she likes being the centre of attention.

"It's great. We've all missed him. Don't know what Dad and I will do when you're both gone."

Closing her eyes against that thought, Bea sits up and pushes on her mother's shoulder to have her stand too, heads for the living room with the confidence that Mom will follow. Her dad is waiting on the couch but her brother is nowhere to be seen; she lifts an eyebrow and Dad jerks his thumb towards the staircase.

"Jack." She hollers, laughing at her father when he plants his hands over his ears and grimaces. "Hurry up, I'm starving."

Her brother comes thundering downstairs and curls an arm at her neck, traps her in his elbow so he can rub the knuckles of his other hand to muss her hair. Just for a moment she's five and eleven and fifteen all at once, and everything is just exactly as it should be.


	6. Stop

**Stop**

* * *

When Jack makes it to his family home, Alba back home at their Florida beach house, he's accosted by his sister almost before he makes it through the door. Grabbing at him, Bea yanks him into an embrace and buries her face at his shoulder, choking out something that could be a sob.

"Jack-Jack. Thank you for coming."

"No problem. What's going on?" He asks, managing to untangle himself from the hug and shuck his way out of his jacket and scarf. His sister looks a little mournful and the loft has that quiet, empty stillness that makes him deeply uneasy. He's so used to the place spilling over with light and laughter and people that it feels seriously weird for it to be so silent. "You're freaking me out."

At least he gets a laugh for that, Beatrice shaking her head and raking a hand through the aggressive snaggle of her curls. "Sorry. Uh, this won't help but-" she breaks off a moment, chews on her lip before she meets his eyes again. "Mom got shot."

He really hates that it isn't a surprise. His sister called early this morning and asked him to please come to the city, that their family needed him. Immediately, the panic had risen thick in his guts, like missing the bottom step of a staircase and falling through nothing for just a moment.

"Do we need to be at the hospital right now, Beatrice?"

His baby sister wrinkles her nose at the name, taking a faltering step backwards to lean against the arm of the couch. "No. It was just a graze, didn't even need stitches. I persuaded Allie to lure Dad over to her place this evening. Mom's at the corner store, should be back any minute."

"Why am I here?" Jack lifts an eyebrow, wishing for just a moment that he was lying out by the pool with the woman he loves and not here in the too-cold city, expected to act as the central force for his family to ground themselves around.

"I wanna stage an intervention." Bea laughs, shaking her head. At twenty two, his sister is startlingly similar to their mother in most respects, but every once in a while their father's mannerisms or personality comes through like a flare. And this, the self-deprecation, definitely comes from Dad. "And you know she's more likely to listen to her precious son."

"Shut up." Jack snorts, coming over to sit at her side and nudge his elbow into his sister's stomach. "Mom's a total pushover for both of us, you know that."

Beatrice grins slowly, clasping her hands together and trapping them between her knees. "That's exactly why I wanted you here."

* * *

Kate is so distracted by her handfuls of groceries as she comes in the door that she doesn't even notice _both_ of her children making dinner in the kitchen until she's halfway to the island. "Jackson, what are you doing here?"

"Hey Mom." Her son grins, rounding the counter and cupping her elbow to spin her around and steer her back to the couch. Bea is following behind them both and Kate finds herself sandwiched between her babies, each of them cradling one of her hands in both of their own.

It's. . .a little weird. But still good. "What's happening?"

"Mom." Beatrice starts, her face suddenly so serious. "It's time for you to retire."

Kate has to bite back a laugh at that. Is this her children staging an intervention? "What are you talking about?"

At her right, Kate's son sighs long and low, seems to steel himself before he speaks. "You got shot yesterday. And yes, it wasn't serious. But it easily could have been. And Mom. . .Bea and I are living our own lives now. We're not here a lot, so you're kinda all Dad has."

"He called me, you know." Bea jumps in before Kate can even get her mouth open. "He was crying on the phone. I've never heard him that scared before."

Oh God. Oh Castle. She didn't want him to even need to find out, at least not until she could tell him herself, kiss him so he'd believe that she really was fine. But Ryan called him, adamant that he'd want to know right away. And as a result she scared the crap out of her husband for oh. . .the thousandth time?

"I didn't mean to frighten him."

"We know you didn't." Jack soothes, his thumb circling against the back of her hand. "But Mom. It's time to hang up the badge. You've had an amazing career, but now it's time to let it go."

Chewing on her lip, Kate lets her eyes slip closed and takes a moment just to think it through. And she knows, has known for a while. "You're right. I should stop. Thank you both for helping me see it. Jack, you really didn't have to fly out from Florida."

"I told you when I moved there. Whenever you guys need me, I'll be here." Her son wraps an arm at her shoulders and tugs her in against his chest, Bea's arms coming around her from the other side until the warmth of both of her children is close and wonderful.

They're both so smart, so amazing, and gratitude threatens to close right over her head. "I'm so sorry. I've taken so many risks over the years. I want you to know that I'm thankful for our family, for the two of you."

"Oh my god, Mom, please don't start crying." Bea huffs, sitting up to mock-glare at Kate and then they're all laughing, the severity of the conversation once again lightened. "I'm gonna check on the food."

Once she's gone, Jack takes his mother's hand again and Kate lifts her eyes to his, manages a smile. "Dad has always been so proud of you, no matter what. So don't worry. That doesn't change just because your career does."

Oh, that's sweet, but unnecessary. She already knows.


	7. Caress

**Caress**

* * *

"Hi, sweetheart." Kate grins, sitting up in bed and opening her arms to her little boy. "Come cuddle with Mommy."

Her son toddles over to the bedside as fast as his fat little legs will allow him and then Castle swings their boy up onto the mattress and Kate can finally get both arms around him, squeezing him tight enough to make him giggle. "I missed you, sweet boy."

"I missed _you_ Mommy." Jack enthuses, sitting up to plant both hands at his mother's cheeks. Rick sinks down to sit at her feet and she nudges her toes into his thigh with the sheets between them, shoots him a questioning look.

She wants him by her side, crammed into the too-small bed the way he has been all this morning. Over lunch, her father and Martha came crowding in to fawn over their new granddaughter and so Kate didn't have time to miss her husband while he went to go pick up their son from Alexis' place.

Castle's eldest daughter and her fiancé will stop by in an hour or so, but for now it's just Kate and her husband and both her babies. "Do you want to meet your sister, Jackson?"

"Oh, yes Momma." Her son beams, his cheeks pink with excitement. Kate arranges the pillows behind herself and sits up a little straighter, guides Jack until he sits close at her side and she can get an arm behind his back, support him with a hand underneath his.

At the bassinet, Rick takes a moment to touch his lips to their brand new daughter's forehead, murmuring something against the so-soft skin before he comes to place the baby in Jackson's arms. And sure, Kate has to help him out quite a bit, but the sight of their son holding his baby sister makes her eyes fill, has Castle leaning in to press a kiss to her cheek.

"I holding her, Daddy." Jack beams up at his father, so much pride in his little face and Rick laughs, sifts a hand through their son's hair.

"You are. Would you like to know her name?"

Jack blinks up at his dad, a hand tentatively coming to splay at his sister's belly. He shoots a startled glance to Kate and she smiles, comes in to kiss her son's cheek. Yeah. . .she's familiar with the surprise at how the baby feels under her palm, that sleepy heat and wonderful sense of jubilation that comes along with it.

"My baby has a name?"

"Her name is Bea." Kate murmurs to her son, and then Beatrice's eyes open and Jack gasps, touches a finger to the baby's cheek.

Glancing up, Kate finds she doesn't even have to ask Castle to film this moment. He's holding his phone in both hands and coming around to sit at her hip, getting a close up of their children meeting one another for the first time.

Jack touches his finger to Bea's palm and her tiny fingers close around his, making him giggle and rest his cheek at Kate's shoulder. "She holding my hand."

"She likes you, buddy." Rick is saying, his voice thick with pride.

It's the hormones, she knows, but Kate could cry. Her family is so incredibly beautiful, so much more than she ever could have dared hope for. Her baby girl is getting a little agitated now, these soft, pitiful little cries that tell Kate it's almost time to feed Beatrice.

She scoops the baby up before Jack starts to get any more panicked and then her husband is pocketing his phone and coming around to climb into bed with the rest of them, gathering Jack up to sit in his lap. "You did so good with her, my man. She's so lucky to have a big brother like you."

"She's so small, Daddy." Jack says reverently, scrubbing his face into Castle's shirt. He should be napping right about now, but his eyes are wide and awe-filled and Kate doubts they're going to get him to sleep until he crashes sometime later tonight.

Both of Rick's arms are tight around their son, keeping him somewhat contained as Kate arranges the baby at her breast for the girl to feed. Her husband's fingers stroke at Jack's little knee where it peeks out from underneath the bottom of his colourful shorts.

Not for the first time, Kate's heart swells with gratitude for the amazing man with whom she's lucky enough to be doing this. "You were this tiny once. Even smaller, actually. You know Daddy could hold you in just one hand?"

"Mommy's right." Castle laughs at the astonished look their little boy turns up to him. "You were this teeny tiny little red person. You yelled a lot, too. Wanted Mommy or Daddy's attention all the time."

Kate laughs at that, murmurs an apology when it startles the little girl cradled in her arms. Stroking a finger down the curve of Bea's cheek, she waits until she's sure the girl is focused on feeding again before she turns to look at her boys.

Whispering together, Jack giggling and Rick laughing too. She doesn't know what about, but that's okay. Her husband and her son have plenty of secrets, man to man. And now here's her baby girl, someone to help her team up against the crazy boys.

"Okay buddy." Castle says, wriggling his fingers under Jack's arm to tickle the boy. "Let's go down to the lobby and wait for Papa. He's gonna take you home, and Mommy and I will see you tonight. Say goodbye to Mommy and Bea."

Jack leans in to place a sloppy kiss to Kate's cheek and a much softer, more careful one to the baby's forehead. Kate gets a kiss from her husband too and then she leans back against the pillows, watches them walk from the room hand in hand.

Her little girl yawns and Kate fastens her hospital gown closed, leans down to kiss the baby. They'll go home soon.


	8. Deny

**Deny**

* * *

"That's not _true_!" Kate hears from down the hall, wincing at the petulance in her daughter's voice. She only meant to kiss Castle after he was done cleaning up from dinner, fleeting and grateful. But their kids were upstairs, determined to do bath time without Mom and Dad's influence, so she dragged him into the study and pushed him down onto the couch.

They got. . .a little carried away. And by the sound of things, in the meantime their kids have been waging war. "Jackson, Beatrice, what's going on?"

When she steps into her daughter's room she comes seriously close to turning around and going right back into the hallway again, calling her husband to deal with this. She doesn't have the energy right now.

Bea is standing on her bed, a little precarious as the mattress throws her balance off but somehow still so defiant. From across the room her brother goads her, holding Bea's stuffed elephant by the scruff of the neck and threatening to toss him under the bed.

"Mommy." Kate's daughter cries out, a little more mournfully than is perhaps warranted, but by now they're all used to Bea's melodrama. "Jack said he'll feed Boot to the monsters under my bed. But there _aren't any_. Daddy said."

Oh jeez. "Jackson Roy Castle. Give your sister back her elephant and go to your room please. Now." Her son is almost ten; she didn't think she'd have to deal with him teasing baby girl anymore. Not when so much of the time her little boy is this fiercely compassionate thing.

Jack drops the toy on Bea's bed and scurries from the room, and Kate presses her wrist to her forehead a moment before she comes to sit on the mattress and pull her little girl into her lap. "Hey, Little Bean."

"Mommy, can you get Daddy to check for monsters? Not that I believe in them." She hastens to add, chest puffed up in silly, seven year old pride. "Just to make sure."

Kate pushes on Beatrice's shoulder to have the girl lie down, pulls the sheets up over her daughter's curled-up body and presses a kiss to her cheek. "I'll get Daddy."

Leaving the door open to let a slither of light from the hallway come crawling into Bea's room, Kate heads down towards Jack's room and catches her husband coming upstairs. "Hey babe. Bea needs you to go check for monsters."

"I'm on it." Her husband grins, wriggling a little in delight. This is something he used to do for Alexis, Kate knows, and it's so good for him to have that back with his youngest little girl. For him to be the hero again.

Kate pushes open Jackson's door slowly and comes inside, eyes taking a moment to adjust after the brightness of the hall and Castle's grin. Heading to sit at her son's hip, Kate strokes a hand through his hair and feels the heat of indignation coming off of him in waves.

"Hey, my man. What happened?"

Their daughter is vibrant and energetic, yes, but often spiteful too. Jack is rarely the one to start arguments between the two of them; it's something Kate and Rick are still trying to figure out how to manage. Jack grunts and props himself up on an elbow, frowns at his mother. "She said I used up all of her shampoo but Mom I _didn't_. And then she wouldn't let me borrow _The Bad Beginning_ from her."

Ah, yeah. Beatrice is fiercely defensive of the Lemony Snicket books in their ornate collector's box, adamant that she should be the only one allowed access to the story of her namesake. Sometimes she and Jack come crawling into the big bed and beg Castle to read to them, clinging to Kate so their mother will stay and listen too.

"Okay, that wasn't nice of her. But that doesn't mean we tease. What's protocol if Bea's not sharing?" Kate murmurs to her boy, coaxing him into lying down again. She can hear the familiar rumble of her husband's voice next door and it seems to soothe their son as well, Jack already flagging on her.

He's grinning at the police terminology though, even as he fights sleep. "Protocol is to tell you or Dad. Not retaliate."

"Right." Her son's chest falls heavy with the sucking tide of sleep and Kate smiles to herself, kisses his forehead and tucks the sheets a little closer around his shoulders. "Goodnight, Jack. I love you."

She meets her husband in the hall again and lets herself sway against him, the fortress of his body so warm and inviting that she could almost fall asleep herself right here. Her heart cries out in anguish for him, the thought of him doing this all alone for Alexis.

And yes, so Alexis didn't have any siblings to fight with. But parenting is such hard work, such a team effort, and she can't fathom doing this without him. Even with only one child. "All good?"

"All good." He says back, leading her towards the stairs. "No monsters. She denied it vehemently, but she was scared. Poor thing."

They make it down the stairs and to the couch before Kate speaks again, the dog lifting up to watch them get settled before he drops his head back to his paws again. Curling into her husband's side, Kate tugs at the blanket folded over the arm of the couch and arranges it to cover their legs, kisses the soft skin of his neck. "She's okay. She knows her daddy will keep her safe."

"Actually, Kate." He laughs, his mouth just brushing her temple. "I told her that if there really were monsters, Mommy would use her gun on them."

That makes her laugh and she presses her cheek to his shoulder, feels the weight of his chin at her crown. "I use my gun on monsters all day at work, Castle. When I come home? That's your job."


	9. Double

**Double**

* * *

"Hey Castle." Ryan grins, standing up from his desk to intercept them outside of the elevator. He looks suspiciously delighted, and it dawns on Rick what's about to happen scant moments before it actually _does_ happen and he's left unable to escape. "And. . .Castle."

His wife growls, shoving her way past Ryan with more force than is really necessary and stalking over to her desk, dropping down into her seat and stabbing the button to turn on her computer. Oh jeez. A pissed off Beckett is just what he needed. "Thanks, man. Really."

"Dude, she's your wife. Not up to me to keep her happy." Ryan shrugs, so damn pleased with himself that it is really starting to grate on Rick's nerves.

They've just gotten back from the most perfect three weeks of his life, touring European capital cities for two of those and then a week in Bora Bora to just relax, do absolutely nothing. He never said it to her - he's not that stupid - but it was by far his favourite honeymoon he's ever had. She looked so beautiful, relaxed and happy and loving every moment of their adventure.

In comparison, the bullpen is rather drab. "Well you don't have to rile her up." He says to Ryan, moving away from the elevator and arriving at Beckett's desk at the same time as Detective Esposito.

"Whoa, Castle squared. It's like double trouble." Javier says, his grin only stretching wider when Kate's cheeks flame. She seems to have come to the same conclusion as Rick has, that it's better just to let them get it out of their systems, so she sits quietly at her desk and doesn't retaliate against her pseudo-brother's ribbing.

Castle sinks into his chair, grateful to see that Gates hasn't taken the opportunity of his absence to hide it away someplace never to be seen again. Javier is leaning against the hard edge of Kate's desk now, some of the teasing gone from his face. "You guys have a good time?"

"The best." Kate says quietly, a soft smile just flirting at the corners of her mouth. She holds Castle's gaze for a moment before her eyes flit to Esposito, and Rick reaches across the desk to squeeze her fingers a moment. It really was amazing, and he fell even deeper in love with her.

It's good to be home, he doesn't deny that, but watching Kate strolling down _La Rambla_ in that gorgeous purple silk dress that swished around her knees made him almost want to emigrate. Persuade her to give up her job and move out somewhere sunny with him.

It would never happen - they both love the city too much to leave it for good - but the possibility fuelled almost every dream he had the whole time. "We miss anything exciting, Esposito?"

"Nah, nothing Beckett flavoured. Or is that Castle flavoured, now?" He purses his lips, staring Kate down and she huffs, shoving her chair backwards a little.

"Ryan, come here."

Kevin scurries over to join his partner and Castle fills up with the silly urge to protect his partner, stand up and use his height as an advantage to press their colleagues into submission. It's pretty funny sure, and he's enjoyed referring to her as _Mrs Castle_ any chance he gets, but when it's putting that sour look on her face? It's not okay.

"I married Castle, and I took his name for our private lives. But at work, in the precinct? I'm still Beckett. I built a reputation for myself with this name and I intend to continue doing so."

He thinks maybe the boys are saying something, heads dipped low in shame and feet quick to shuffle away from Beckett's desk. But he's still caught up in the words _I married Castle_ coming out of her mouth, how proud it makes him that to be her husband.

Kate hooks her foot underneath the edge of her desk and wheels her chair underneath again, refocuses her attention at the computer monitor. For about five seconds, he manages to control himself, but it's no good. He needs to be touching her.

His fingers land at her wrist and she glances over to him, covers his hand with her own. Suddenly he feels sorrowful, guilty for making her the butt of a joke in a way he hasn't done since the first Nikki Heat book all those years ago.

"I'm sorry, Kate."

"For what?" She murmurs, slender fingers stroking over the back of his hand now. "You think I didn't know this was coming?"

"Yeah, but-"

"Castle." She huffs, frowning at him. "They're my brothers. We tease, you know that. It doesn't mean I regret marrying you. Not for one moment."

Rick scrubs his free hand down his face, tries not to let the desolation show. "I just. . .you should be respected, Kate. You are amazing at what you do here, and I hate that us being married might jeopardise that."

"It doesn't. Babe, you think the boys are going to think any less of me because I married you? If anything, it makes me a better cop."

She's got that same look on her face as when he proposed and she told him not yet, that they had to work on their relationship before they were ready for that. Intense and focused and willing to do battle to save the things she loves.

That's him. One of the things she loves. He still can't quite believe it. "I make you a better cop?"

"Yes. You give me something to focus on, something to make it home to. You remember the Elena case? If I'd gotten that case a few years earlier, I don't think I would have survived. But you were with me, and you got me through it."

"Kate."

"I know." She soothes, letting go of his arm. "But this PDA thing isn't exactly going to encourage the teasing to stop. So stop moping."

He does.

The reward is always worth it.


	10. Devotion

**Devotion**

* * *

The phone rings at six pm, jostling her from her spot at the stove and startling her hard enough that she bites her tongue. She was in something of a trance as she stirred the pasta sauce for dinner, imagining the warm skim of her husband's hands up her sides, and so the trill of her phone makes her feel brittle and unguarded.

She glances over at the living room, sees her eighteen month old in his bouncer. He seems to be quite content playing with the assortment of things that hang down to entertain him, so Kate swipes her phone from the counter and moves to sink into the couch.

"Hey babe."

"Hey." Her husband's voice is crackly and far away sounding, miles between them, but she lets her eyes slip closed and imagines that he's right beside her. "I'm sorry to interrupt dinner, but I'm supposed to be getting an early night and it's past eleven already."

Huffing a laugh, Kate slips down onto the floor and brushes her fingers at her son's cheek. It's been difficult these past couple weeks, the constantly shifting differences in their time zones making it hard to carve out a moment to check in.

Despite that, they haven't missed a single day. So even if the loft does seem cavernous without him, even if she feels immensely guilty for needing her father to take care of her son almost every day, it's been alright. Bearable.

"It's okay. Good to hear your voice."

"Whoa, hey, sweetheart. What's wrong?" Rick sounds immediately desolate and it makes her eyes flood with stupid tears.

Drawing her knees up to her chest, Kate presses her eyes into the apex of them to stem the flood of emotion, ignoring her son's indignant squawk when she takes her hand away. "I'm okay. Just. . .missing you. We both are."

"I miss you, too." He says quietly, and Kate wants to curse at herself. It took so much persuasion to get him to do this, fulfil his obligations with Black Pawn. He didn't want to leave his family, especially not now, but she was adamant that they'd be just fine without him.

Really, she had no idea just how hard it would be. "I'm coping, it's fine. I'm just really looking forward to you coming home."

"I can't wait. How's Jack?"

"He's good." Kate laughs, bringing the phone away from her ear and pressing the button to put it on speaker. "Hey, sweet boy. Say hi to Daddy."

Her son cranes his neck, trying desperately to look behind him as if he expects his father to have suddenly materialised. "Where Daddy?"

"On the phone, baby." Kate hums, settling her cell on the coffee table so she can use both hands to free her little boy from the bouncer and cradle him close.

Castle's voice rings out, even less clear now that the phone is on speaker but still so familiar, so good to hear. "Hey there, Jackson. I hope you're being good for Mommy, my man."

"I good, Daddy. I soooo good." Her son giggles, splaying both hands at his cheeks and burying his face in the crease of her neck. Kate gets a hand at the back of his head, her other arm pressed against the length of his spine to keep him somewhat still.

He's a wriggling little thing, but he loves to cuddle; without Castle here to hand him off to she's had to figure out a way to corral him somewhat. "He's great. But he misses you, Daddy."

"How's baby girl?" Her husband says, and she can hear the curve of mischievous delight in his voice.

"You don't _know_ that it's a girl. But the baby is fine." She murmurs, letting her son go when he starts to fuss at still finding himself trapped in his mother's embrace. Kate's pregnancy was the main reason her husband didn't want to leave for Europe, so she's kept him up to date every day, cataloguing the slightest changes in her body for him.

"I'm so glad." There's a pause, a rustle of sheets, and she imagines him settling down in the too-cold hotel bed. He never takes the middle on his book tours, always leaves the left side of the bed empty in deference to her. "Hey Kate? I was thinking maybe when I get back we could head up to your father's cabin for the weekend. Take a little time away from the demands of our lives."

"That sounds wonderful." She breathes, startling a little when the baby kicks. Spreading her palm out at the spot low down on her right side, she closes her eyes and revels in the feeling of her youngest child making her presence known.

And yes. She's using the damned female pronouns for the baby, even though they don't find out the sex for another month. Castle's quiet too, and for a moment she wonders whether he's fallen asleep on her. It wouldn't be the first time in the past couple of weeks that she's had to hang up their call, woken up the next morning to an apologetic text from him.

"I wish you were here. I miss you so much. I miss kissing you, and sleeping next to you, and raising our son together." He grits out, his voice thick with anguish and more than anything she wants to be there, carding her fingers through his hair to soothe him.

All she has to offer are her own words in return. "I miss you too, Rick. I had no idea just how much. How hard it would be to do this without you."

Before her husband gets a chance to respond, their son is running full tilt towards the coffee table. Kate watches as if it's in slow motion as her little boy fails to stop and smacks right into the solid oak, falling onto his bottom and staring up at her, shell-shocked.

And then he screams. "I'm gonna go. Let you deal with that. Love you both."

She can deal with it. Three more days.


	11. Beg

**Beg**

* * *

Turning away from the kitchen island, Castle yanks open the refrigerator and tries desperately to resist the temptation to just climb inside the beautiful, cool solace the thing offers. He could really use his wife on this one. "Jackson, I said no."

"Dad, literally everyone else in the entire grade is going." His teenaged son huffs. At seventeen, Jackson is brooding and silent in a way that Alexis never was; Rick doesn't quite know how to handle it.

And okay, both he and his wife were rebellious as teenagers, so it's only to be expected, but he hates floundering like this. Hates not knowing how to reach his son. "Jack. Mom doesn't want you to go to the party."

"Why _not_?" Jack growls, both hands in fists and pressed carefully against his thighs.

Pushing his shoulder into the refrigerator door to close it, Rick offers a soda to his son and pops the tab on his own can, takes a long drink. "Mom says that Bran's older brother got busted for possession a few months back."

"Are you saying Mom thinks Bran does drugs?" Jack spits, looking faintly horrified. And not, Castle supposes, at his friend's misfortune for being named after a character from _Game of Thrones_. He's a little bit jealous for that. He tried to persuade Kate to name their kids something cool, sometimes still finds himself wanting to call his baby girl Daenerys.

Rounding the counter, Castle comes to sit at his son's side, nudges his elbow into him. A young man, really, and it's frightening. "It's a possibility. And can you imagine how embarrassed Mom would be if the cops busted the party and you got arrested."

"Dad, Bran doesn't do that shit. We're just gonna hang out."

Castle decides to gloss right over the cursing. Honestly, it's not like his son has never heard him or Kate curse before. It'd be hypocritical to reprimand him for it now. "Look buddy, I know you want to go, but Mom and I aren't comfortable with it."

"You both aren't comfortable, or she's not and you're letting her walk all over you?" Jackson grits out, refusing to look at Rick. He still hasn't so much as popped the tab on the soda, rejecting Castle's peace offering, and that makes Rick bristle.

"Your mother and I make these decisions together, Jackson Roy."

Scrubbing a hand down his face, Jack finally turns to meet his father's eyes. He does seem a little apologetic, but Castle is wary. "Dad, please. Please give me this chance to prove that you can trust me. I promise if things get out of hand I'll call you right away."

Oh man. Now he feels horrendously guilty. Jack hasn't ever betrayed their trust, not really. And he feels bad for the kid, having a cop as a mom. A cop who has seen the very worst of humanity and is desperate to keep it away from her own children.

"Okay. You can go to the party. _If-_" He cuts in before Jack gets a chance to rejoice. "If you call me if there's any mention of drugs. And no more than two beers, okay."

Kate's gonna kill him, but the grin that spreads over his son's face? Completely worth it.

* * *

Beckett comes crawling in the door at almost two am, shedding her coat and her detective persona right along with it. Detouring in the office to lock her gun away in the safe, Kate heads for her bedroom. She just wants to crawl in between the sheets and be unconscious for a few hours, luxuriate in the heat of Castle next to her.

Her head has _just_ hit the pillow when her phone rings, startling her and making her bite out a handful of curses as she grapples for it on the nightstand. Only, it isn't her phone that's ringing. It's Rick's, and he's answering the thing with his eyes still closed, his body crashing sideways into hers.

"Hello? Hey buddy. Okay. Thank you for calling me. Okay. I'm on my way." He hangs up, peeling his eyes open and leaning in to press a smacking kiss to her mouth before he stumbles out of bed and heads for the closet.

Groaning, Kate clutches a pillow to her chest and leans against the headboard, watching her husband move around their room. "Who was that? What's going on?"

"Jack. Gotta pick him up from the party. He says things are getting out of control."

"You let him_ go_?" She gapes, biting back a laugh when Rick freezes comically and turns as if in slow motion to face her. His t shirt clings appealingly to his biceps, hair deliciously rumpled, but rage still bubbles up in her gut. "I thought we decided this, Castle."

"He begged me, Kate. Begged me to let him prove we can trust him. And babe, he kinda just did. He called when things got too much, like I made him promise to."

He's shrugging, snagging a bundled up pair of socks from the dresser drawer and dropping heavily to the end of the bed to pull them on. Kate gets to her knees and crawls down the bed, drapes her arms over his shoulders and drops an open mouthed kiss to his neck. "You're a good dad."

"I know." He grins, half-turning to face her and kiss her cheek. "You wanna come with me to get him? Scare the crap out of his buddies?"

She snorts, shaking her head and tucking her hair back behind her ear. She got it cut recently and it still takes her by surprise, curls only just starting to brush her shoulders again. "I think you can do that part all by yourself. But babe, call me if you think things are really bad."

"You're not gonna call the cops?"

He seems surprised, and it makes her heart ache. "No. I don't think he'd ever forgive me."

"Of course he would." Castle says softly, a hand coming up to cradle her cheek. "You're his mom."

That's all the explanation he needs to give.


	12. Change

**Change**

* * *

"Mom?" Bea whispers into the darkness of her parent's bedroom. The terrain of their bed is mountainous with the prone lengths of both of their bodies, and then one side of the covers peels back and her mother is sitting up, long legs sliding out from beneath the sheets and hitting the floor.

Her mom snags the folded blanket draped over the armchair and wraps it around her shoulders, pads quietly over to the door. She steps over the threshold and closes the door carefully behind them, leaves Bea's father snoring softly.

"Hey sweetheart. What's wrong?"

"I'm scared." Bea grits out through clenched teeth, but no matter. The tears are already falling, hot and shameful and she crashes into her mother's body, buries her face in the so-familiar curve where shoulder meets neck.

Her mom's hands come around her, mouth at her ear and murmuring softly. "Shh, baby. Don't cry. Come on, come sit."

The two of them fold onto the couch and Bea's mother wraps the blanket around both of their shoulders, an arm hooked at Beatrice's waist to keep her close. She smells so good, warm and lovely, and already some of the fear is dissipating.

"What if I don't make any friends? What if the classes are too hard?" She says quietly, keeping her face buried against her mother to disguise the shame. "I'm not ready."

"It's okay." Her mother soothes, a hand carding through her hair. The fist of panic tightens in her guts, but the over and over touch of her mother's cool fingers at her hairline is a balm, makes her eyes slip closed and the roar inside dull a little. "You're gonna be great, my beautiful girl. You'll love it, I know you will."

She wishes she could have her mother's certainty. It seems impossible, here in the middle of the night with salt making the skin of her face tight and uncomfortable. Her brother seems to have such an easy time of high school, his relaxed demeanour coupled with his intelligence meaning that both his peers and his teachers respect him.

"Listen to me." Her mother murmurs, peeling Bea away from her just enough that she can see her face. "You are wonderful. Sweet and kind and funny and smart. You're not going to have any trouble making friends. And as for the classes? You'll have to work hard, but you can do it."

"I don't feel ready." Beatrice whispers, picking at the frayed edge of her sleep shorts. High school has been this strange, unknowable thing looming in the distance for so long and now all of a sudden she's right on the doorstep, about to be tossed right into the deep end.

"Oh honey, you're more ready than you think, I promise." Her mom says back, pressing a kiss to her cheekbone and drifting upwards, her mouth landing at Bea's temple. "Let's get you back to bed. Come on."

She half expects for her mother to tuck her in and say goodnight, leave the door a little ways open behind her. But instead her mother follows her right into bed, both arms around her and a hand smoothing up and down her spine.

And finally, she can sleep.

* * *

For the last hour before his little girl makes it home, Castle takes to pacing the confines of his loft. This morning, Kate told him about last night, the crisis of confidence that their baby girl had. She slept in bed with their daughter and he had to massage the crick out of her neck before she left for the precinct.

She dropped their daughter off on her way to work, banished Rick to his study and made him promise to write. He tried, he really did, but he couldn't focus. All he has ever wanted is for the people he loves to be happy and safe. The not knowing is killing him.

A key turns in the loft and he scrambles for the kitchen, snatches a recipe book down from the shelves and opens it at a random page. When the door opens he glances up, offers a smile and a wave at his kids and then busies himself with the cookbook again.

He's the cool dad. For sure.

Bea comes to stand beside him at the kitchen island, leaning over his shoulder to get a look at the book in front of him. "Baby food? Dad. . .is there something you and Mom would like to tell us?"

"Oh, crap. Grabbed the wrong book." He manages a strangled laugh, shoving the wretched thing back onto the shelf and turning to face his littlest girl. "I was looking to make you something special, to celebrate making it through your first day of high school."

"Dad." She blushes, the pinkish rise to her cheeks so very much like her mother that Rick has to force himself not to take a stumbling step backwards. Sometimes she completely throws him, his mini-Kate.

Shrugging, Rick glances over at his son, finds him out of earshot. "Was it. . .okay? I know you were worried."

"I had fun." His daughter grins, rising on tiptoe a moment to pat his cheek. Condescending, yes, but it does the trick. Reassures him. She's laughing at the mock affront he arranges his face into, and the easy delight in the sound has him smiling right back at her.

"I'm glad. You talk to Mom?"

"I've been texting her all day. In between classes, of course." Beatrice lifts an eyebrow at him, her mouth stitched into a seam.

Suddenly, it's all too much. She's his youngest, his baby, and she's in high school now. He feels terribly old, and a little maudlin too. How fast the precious time when his children were young and thought he hung the moon has flown by.

Ruffling his daughter's hair, Rick does his best to shake himself out of it. "Let's go out for dinner, Little Bean. I'm proud of you. And Mom is too."


	13. Confinement

**Confinement**

* * *

Castle has just managed to get his daughter down for her nap when the phone rings. Earlier, he pulled the bassinet through into the living room so that when Beatrice was sleeping he'd be able to keep watch over his son, too, playing quietly on the rug with his toy trucks.

Tugging his cell free from his pocket, Rick settles onto the couch and slides his socked foot across the floor to nudge at his little boy, pulling a goofy face to make him laugh when Jack wheels around to look. "Hey, babe."

"Rick." She grits out, and immediately he knows something's wrong. There's a thread of terror in her voice; coupled with her use of his first name it sends panic cascading through him. Unspooling faster than he can grab a hold of.

"Kate, what's wrong?"

There's a moment of quiet, and Rick peels himself up from the couch and heads for the window. Outside, the city hums and swells as if nothing is wrong. But already this feels cataclysmic. "There's a bomb."

"Kate. Kate." He says like a benediction, his body surging with useless adrenaline. This is the worst part, the only downside to being home with their kids all day. When his wife is in trouble, there's absolutely nothing he can do.

"It's somewhere in the building. We don't know where. Bomb squad are combing the place, but we're not allowed to move until we get an all clear." _Or until it blows_. Goes unspoken, but they're both thinking it.

Clenching his fists, Rick presses his forehead to the cool glass of the windowpane and draws in a deep breath. She's called him, sought him out to get her through this, and he won't let his own fear drag her down too. "Where are you?"

"At my desk. Just sitting here. I don't want to die like this." She makes a noise that, from anyone else, he would label a sob. He has to force himself to stay still, not to gather up his family and head straight for the precinct.

There's nothing he could do, and Kate would kill him if he brought their kids anywhere close to the danger zone. "You're not gonna die, Kate. The bomb squad are good. They'll get you out."

"Distract me, Castle." She pleads, some of the steel core of her coming back into her voice. "Tell me about our kids. How are they?"

He doesn't hesitate. If this is what she needs, if this is all he can do, he will do it no question. "Bea just fell asleep. She looks so much like you when she's sleeping, Kate. So beautiful."

"And Jack?"

"Playing with his trucks. Hey buddy." Castle says to his son, heading to sit on the floor with his little boy and lean back against the body of the couch. "Mommy's on the phone."

"Mama? I speak to her?" Jack reaches for the phone and Castle keeps it just far enough away that his son can't quite make it. Instead, he switches the call to speaker.

Kate's voice rings out, clear and beautiful. "Hey there, my man. You being good for Daddy?"

"I playing trucks." Jack giggles, glancing to his father as if for approval. "You come home?"

"Yeah, baby." Kate chokes on a laugh, her voice tremulous and thin. Castle gathers their son into his embrace, wishing desperately that he could do the same with his wife. "I'll be home soon."

Pressing a kiss to Jack's temple, Castle squeezes the boy tight around the middle to make him erupt in giggles and wriggle to get free. "Tell Mommy what we did this morning."

"We did do crafts. I made you a picture." Jack beams, that lovely pride on his face that makes Rick so happy to see.

On the phone, he hears Kate taking a deep breath and imagines her choking back her tears. "I can't wait to get home and see it. I love you, my sweet boy."

"I love you too, Mommy." Jack says, and then he scrambles free from Castle's embrace and flops on his stomach on the rug again, making his truck circle the leg of the coffee table.

Rick closes his eyes, wants to scream at the unfairness of it all. If his wife gets snatched away from their family now. . .he doesn't know that he can ever come back from that. "I wish I could be there to hold your hand."

"No, Castle. If something happens to me, the kids are going to need you desperately. I'm so glad you're not here for this."

"Nothing's going to happen to you." He grits out, prays that speaking the words aloud will make them true. "You're gonna come home to me tonight like it's any other day."

"But if I don't-" she starts, barrelling right through him when he tries to interrupt. "Please raise them to know that I love them more than anything, and I'm so proud to be their mother."

"Don't do this." He pleads with her, his whole body trembling with desperation. "Don't make me think about doing this without you."

"I love you, Rick." There's a smile in her voice, and far too much acceptance. It makes his guts twist painfully, hearing how she's resigned herself to her fate. "I love you so much. Thank you for loving me back, for giving me our family."

"Oh god, Kate." He chokes, a tear slipping shamefully down his cheek. "I love you too. You've given me so much. I don't know how to do this without you."

"You can do it. I know you can. You're an amazing father. Just. . .raise them so they know me. Please? Let me be a part of their lives."

"You're going to be a part of their lives, Kate, because you're coming home to us tonight. I'm not losing you like this. Think of how much we've survived already."

She does not die like this. Not today. Not ever.

He refuses.


	14. Merge

**Merge**

* * *

She's been rushed off of her feet lately, trying to figure out the balance between being a good detective and being a good mother for her son. And yes, trying to carve out precious moments to remind her husband that she adores him, too.

Stress always messes with her body's natural rhythms, and with the cases they've had lately she's not at all surprised to miss her period. She doesn't think anything of it until her breasts start to ache and she gets nauseous at a crime scene for the third time in a week.

So now it's the middle of the afternoon and she's crammed into a bathroom stall at the precinct, feeling gangly and awkward as she tries to fit her knees and elbows comfortably into the cubicle. The pregnancy test stares up at her, confident and delighted in its proclamation.

Kate is pregnant.

And she's so excited, already. They haven't exactly been trying, but they'd agreed before she even got pregnant with Jack that they wanted more than one baby. Having both grown up as only children, both Kate and her husband were eager to give their own kids the gift of having a sibling.

Already, she's plotting how to tell him. It was somewhat ruined for her last time; he walked in on her getting sick and she had to tell him so he didn't completely freak out and think she was dying or something. This time, she'll get it right.

Chewing on her lip, Kate rests her temple against the wall of the bathroom stall and closes her eyes. A hand falls protectively to her abdomen and she can't stop the stretch of her grin, excitement fizzing through her bloodstream.

They're having another baby. Jack is going to be a big brother, have a tiny new person to teach all of his tricks to. And Castle is going to have another child to dote over, be everything for. Kate stands up from the closed lid of the toilet and shoves the pregnancy test into the bowels of the waste bin in the stall.

She wants to go home right now, blurt it out the moment she sees him, but she won't do that. He deserves the magic of it, the excitement. And she can't wait to do that for him, be the reason that his face splits apart in that beaming grin he has. Eyes scrunched up and his joy carving fissures in his skin.

Kate comes out of the stall and washes her hands, takes a moment to glance at her reflection. It's so ridiculous, but already she can see a glow. A flush to her cheeks and the permanent hint of a smile quirking the corners of her mouth.

Karpowski comes into the bathroom and Beckett jolts, snaps back into her detective persona and nods at the other woman on her way back into the bullpen. Settling down at her desk, she taps her pen against the surface and hopes the boys don't notice that she's not thinking about their case. Not at all.

Instead, she's trying to figure out how to do this.

* * *

Castle takes a quick shower after dinner, scrubbing at his hair with a towel when he steps out and throwing on sweat pants and a t shirt. He goes searching for his wife, finds her in the living room.

Framed in the window, the soft light of dusk making her look ethereal, so beautiful that it almost brings him to his knees. Kate cradles their son in both arms, her lips pressed to the shell of his ear, and she murmurs to him while he sleeps.

His little mouth is open against her chest, his cheeks pink and hair dark with sleep sweat. Rick has never seen anything so amazing in his life. When he makes it to her side, his wife leans in to kiss him, a hand peeling away from their son to rest at his cheek instead.

She breaks away from his mouth again and he drops a kiss to the crown of his son's head, marvelling at how much of each of them he can see in their boy. "Our genes merge really well."

"They do." She smiles, leaning into his chest when he wraps an arm at her shoulders and draws her in close. The wonderful, familiar smell of her comes in to greet him and he closes his eyes, revels in the way it mixes with the baby smell of their son. A year old next week, and he can't believe how fast the time has gone.

There's a moment of quiet, and then Kate turns to look up at him, lifting up a moment to kiss the underside of his jaw. Smiling shyly, she dips her head and chews on her lip before she regards him again. "How do you feel about maybe merging them again?"

"Of course. We discussed this, babe. We want to give Jack a sibling, right?"

"Yes. You think we could do it in about nine months?" She grins at him.

It takes him a moment to figure it out, what she's getting at, and then he's crying. can't help it, but she's kissing him and both of their children are between them and oh god, he loves her so much. "Kate. Wow. I love you."

"I love you, too." She laughs, quiet and careful not to wake their son but still gorgeous. "I wasn't going to do it like this. Wanted to do the big announcement this time. But I think just the fact that we're having a baby is magic enough, right?"

"This is perfect, Kate. Just perfect. Can I take him?" He needs the weight of his son in his arms, suddenly. To stop himself from trembling. His wife hands their little boy over and Rick takes him gratefully, snuggles Jack close to his chest.

Kate rests her cheek at his bicep, nose to nose with their son, and is polite enough not to mention that Castle is still crying.


	15. Dry

**Dry**

* * *

"Ugh." Castle groans, dropping his head into both hands and pushing his laptop closed. It's offending him, the incessant blink of the curser against the pristine background of a blank page. "Kaaate."

Poking her head around the doorframe of the office, his wife lifts an eyebrow at him. She must sense that his distress is not entirely for show because she slips inside the room and heads straight for him. her hips are just about narrow enough to squeeze into the chair alongside him and she does so, wriggling down and draping both her arms around his neck.

The way she nuzzles at the soft skin of his neck makes him smiling, struggling to free his hand from where it's trapped between their bodies and wind it around her waist instead. "I can't write. Nothing's coming to me."

"Babe, you've had dry spells before. You'll get through it. Don't beat yourself up over it." His wife murmurs. Every day, he's amazed by her. She's so gorgeous, graceful and beautiful and so wise it takes his breath away. He'd always sort of figured that she'd age well, but he really had no idea.

Still, even now, he's falling harder for her every day. "It's too quiet. I haven't had peace and time alone to write for twenty years."

"I know. You miss her."

"Both of them." He shrugs, pressing a soft kiss to the turned down corners of Kate's mouth. Soothing her frown, gentling her into happiness, and the swipe of his tongue at her bottom lip seems to do the trick. "What do we do now?"

He gets a lift of her eyebrow for that, her slow perusal of his body making his blood rush. But, Kate, he is sixty seven years old. They can't occupy entire days in the bedroom anymore. Not that he'll admit it, but he really doesn't have the stamina.

"I'm teasing." She grins, knocking her forehead against his. Her eyes slip closed and her lashes fan out against her cheeks, delicate and fragile-looking without the lashings of dark mascara she used to wear. "Babe, you know there's no pressure right? It's not like we can't afford to support ourselves financially."

"No, I know. It's not that. I just- I'm a writer, Kate. I don't know if I'm ready to give that up."

He lets her kiss him, falling right into the softness of her mouth and the scratch of her nails at his nape. And when she pulls back, it's only to nudge her nose against his and palm his cheek. "You will always be a writer, Rick Castle. But you're not contracted with Black Pawn anymore. So if the words aren't coming, don't force it. Write when they are there, and in the meantime be my husband. Let's be an old married couple."

He wrinkles his nose at that, catching her lip between his teeth for just a moment in something close to punishment. "I don't think I'm quite there yet, baby. But you're very smart, you know that?"

"I know." She smirks, her face awash with smug superiority that dissolves into laughter before he even has to kiss that arrogance off her mouth. "Now come on. Up. Let's take the dog out."

Kate climbs out of the office chair and strides for the living room, whistling for the dog and snagging his leash from the hook by the door. The silly old thing comes lolloping towards her, ears flapping and tail turning rotations.

He's grey around the mouth now, whiskers at his chin, but Baudelaire is eager as ever for his walk. And yes, their second dog was also named by their daughter.

Rick heads for the bedroom and shucks his sweatpants in favour of jeans, tugs on shoes and a coat before he meets his wife in the living room. He takes the leash from her and her hand in his other, leading them both out of the loft and towards the elevator.

They wind through sidewalks, sometimes having to break apart around clusters of tourists or gaggles of teenagers coming home from school, but she always comes back to his side. In the park, he stoops to let Baudelaire off of his leash and the dog meanders a little ways away from them, eager to explore the lush expanses of grass that border the path through the park.

The sun is just beginning to sink into the belly of the earth, and every time Rick glances over at his wife the thick, orange light is splashed at her cheekbones, soaking the ends of her hair. She squints at him, the sun blinding her, and her mouth opens on a smile.

He steals a kiss from her, keeps it as fleeting as he can bear to. Like this, even the absence of his words seems inconsequential. Her hand in his, that same spicy scent that seems sweet when he has his nose pressed against the creases of her neck that she's had since they met. His words couldn't do it justice anyway; what does it matter if he can't find any?

"You okay?" She says quietly, halting them both as a little girl bolts across the path, followed close behind by her father. He swoops the girl up into his arms and kisses her flushed cheeks, and Kate rests her head at Castle's bicep.

Rick kisses her crown, chuckling when the dog comes back and butts his nose into Castle's knee in his silent way of asking _why'd you stop_? "I'm great. This is perfect, Kate."

"Yeah. You out of your funk?" She teases, so pleased with herself, and he has to kiss her for that. Kate sets him back after a moment, a hand at his chest and her eyes dark with apology. He understands.

They can't do this here, in the middle of the park for anyone to see. Rick laces their fingers again and keeps walking, has to laugh when he realises. . .they're heading right into the sunset.


	16. Release

**Release**

* * *

"All clear." The leader of the bomb squad says, striding out of the elevator and heading for Gates' office. Even the captain hadn't been allowed to move this whole time, but the moment she hears those words she's standing up from her desk and near charging into the bullpen.

Their captain really does care about her detectives, Beckett knows, and so to be trapped inside of her office unable to offer any assistance must have been torturous for her. Now, she's grinning right at Kate. "Okay detectives, you're free to move."

Immediately, Kate stands up from her chair and heads to meet her captain over by the murder board. Her legs are cramping painfully from having been so still for so long, but it's nothing she hasn't dealt with before. From past experience, she knows that the best cure is a scalding hot bath shared with her husband.

"Sir." Beckett starts, tries to stay respectful even when all she wants to do is get the hell out of here. "I'd like to request the rest of the day off."

Gates saw her on the phone with Castle earlier today - the two women shared a mournful look - and so she must know that Kate is desperate to get home and see him and her children. "Of course, Detective Beckett. In fact, I'd like you to take tomorrow as well."

"Oh, thank you Sir." Kate grins, already turning back for her desk to collect her things. A lifetime ago, she might have argued the extra day, might have wanted to return to work as normal. But not now.

In the elevator, Kate debates calling her husband but decides against it. He won't believe that she's really fine until he can see her for himself anyway, so it's best to surprise him by showing up at the door. She's jittery, trembling with left-over adrenaline and all she wants to do is be with her family.

The distance from the precinct to the loft seems insurmountable. It takes years for her to catch a cab, decades for it to arrive at the corner of Broome and Crosby. The elevator in their building was replaced a few years back and it's a sleek, shiny, _fast_ thing now, but nonetheless it makes her antsy to wait.

She paces back and forth in the confines of the elevator car and then it spits her out into the hallway and she has to force herself not to run for the door. The keys are in her pocket but she doesn't use them. Instead, she knocks.

It takes a little longer than she thought, but finally the door swings open and Castle is there. Gorgeous, amazing Castle and he's wrapping both arms around her and lifting her off of her feet even as he crashes his mouth against hers.

"Kate. Kate. Oh thank god. You're okay." He's murmuring against her mouth, finally setting her back onto solid ground again. He drags her against his body and closes the front door behind her. in his eyes, she sees the desperate need to push her up against it and kiss her again, but then their two year old is barrelling towards her and crashing into her legs.

Kate swings her son up into her arms and nuzzles at his cheeks, painting him with sloppy kisses and leaning against her husband's chest. "Hey, Jack. You okay, sweet boy?"

"Yeah!" He giggles, returning Kate's kisses with a few more slobbery offerings of his own at her cheeks, her mouth. "I show you my picture?"

"Sure." She laughs, setting him down and watching him charge for the coffee table on his chubby little legs, wobbly and so adorable.

Castle's arms come around her again and he opens his mouth against her temple as if to speak, but no words come. She understands that feeling all too well, how relief can make you mute. In gratitude, Kate leans in and kisses him again, soft and tender, but lingering as long as she dares with their son watching.

"Thank you, Rick."

"I didn't do anything." He grits out, devastation momentarily transforming him into someone she doesn't recognise. Smoothing her fingers over his cheeks, Kate rests her forehead at his and lets him feel the warmth of her body close to his.

"You didn't let me give up home. You stopped me panicking. I don't know how I would have gotten through it without you."

Before Rick gets a chance to respond their son comes back from the table, tugging at the leg of her pants. Kate bends down to scoop him up again and carries him over to the couch, passing the bassinet on her way. Her daughter's eyes are open and she leans in, kisses Beatrice's temple before she sits.

"She's awake. Can you get her?"

Her husband collects their daughter and comes to sit at Kate's side. An arm wrapped around the squirmy boy in her lap, Kate cups her free hand around her daughter's tiny foot. The girl seems contented enough, staring wide-eyed at her brother as he grabs his painting from the table and holds it out for Kate to see.

"It a dinosaur, Mommy." He grins, so proud of himself, and Kate blows a raspberry at the delicious warmth of his neck.

"I see that. Is he going to eat you all up?"

"Nooo." Jack giggles, shaking his head at her. "He a good dinosaur. Him eat the bad guys."

Sharing a grin with her husband, Kate takes the picture to look at it closer. Jack drops his head to her chest and curls up small. It's a recent habit, arrived right around the same time as his baby sister, and Kate does her best to ease him out of it. That need to be coddled, cosseted like a newborn.

"It's very good, sweetheart. How about you go put it on the refrigerator." Jack slides off her lap and runs for the kitchen, and Kate takes the opportunity to burrow closer to her husband. "I got tomorrow off."

Rick tucks her hair back behind her ear and smiles, leans in to kiss her. There are hundreds of things he could say, but she already knows them all. This is enough.


	17. Territory

**Territory**

* * *

Giggling her way down the corridor, Bea drags her boyfriend along behind her and kisses the mock affront right off of his face. It took some time for her to convince him to come home with her, meet her family. Noah is great, funny and charming, and it isn't like he hasn't met her family before.

Just never in this capacity. They were friends for a while before they started dating, so although Noah has met her dad before, he's never had to sit through Beatrice's father's completely embarrassing interrogation. She's heard dozens of horror stories from Alexis, something about her father wanting to dress up in costume to scare off one of her potential boyfriends.

At least Mom will be there, to rein him in. Keep him somewhat in check, although Mom can be just as prone to teasing sometimes. They reach the door and Bea unlocks it, stretches up on tiptoe to kiss Noah again before she opens the door and drags him inside the loft.

"You want a drink?" She nudges her elbow into Noah's side, slinging her backpack over towards the couch and slipping off her shoes. He follows suit, making himself comfortable, and snags her hand in his own to follow her over to the kitchen.

"Soda would be great, thanks."

Rummaging around in the refrigerator, Bea comes up with two sodas and launches one towards her boyfriend, laughing when he pops the top and it fizzes over his hand. He licks at the flow of sticky liquid and she grins, predatory as she stalks slowly towards him. "Need some help?"

She's just lifting his hand up to her mouth when her brother comes slamming in the front door, immediately spotting the two of them in the kitchen and wrinkling his nose. "Disgusting. Stop it."

"Shut up." Bea retorts childishly, but she does let go of Noah's hand and usher him towards the sink to wash up.

Jack comes to join them, settling onto one of the bar stools and pinning Noah with his stare. "So. What are your intentions towards my sister?"

"Oh my god, Jack." Bea scowls, rounding the counter and shoving at her brother hard enough that it forces him to plant a hand at the surface of the island just to stay upright on his bar stool. "Shut _up_."

Ignoring her, Jack levels Bea's boyfriend with a look. "I'm serious, Noah. You know our mom knows people, right? We could make you disappear."

Noah blanches, takes a stumbling step backward, and Beatrice moves to his side and wraps him up in a hug, glaring at her big brother from older her boyfriend's shoulder. "Isn't this Dad's territory? What are you doing?"

"He's at work with Mom. Told me to haze Noah on his behalf." And then Jack cracks, slipping off of the stool and coming around to punch Noah's arm and laugh. Perhaps a little too jovial; Bea's boyfriend still looks terrified. "I'm just kidding, man. You're fine."

Shaking her head, Bea laces her fingers with Noah's and tugs him over to the couch with her. He sits first and she folds herself against his side, tossing her legs over his lap. "We were gonna watch a movie. You wanna join us?"

"Sure." Jack grins, folding his gangly limbs into the armchair and snagging the television remote from the coffee table to throw to his sister. He's home for Christmas break and it still throws her off every so often. Having gotten used to having the house to herself a lot of the time, suddenly needing to navigate around her mammoth of a brother is unsettling.

Bea starts the movie and turns to lift an eyebrow at Jack while the titles roll. "You know I don't need you, or Dad or even Mom to haze Noah. I'm quite capable of kicking his ass myself."

"I know." Jack snorts, offering a sympathetic look to Bea's boyfriend. "It's just fun to see him squirm."

Patting Noah's thigh in something close to sympathy, Beatrice presses a soft kiss to his cheek before she focuses her attention on the movie again. A couple years back, she went with Mom to some self-defence classes. So yes, she really can hold her own.

Sure, she probably couldn't take down a hardened criminal the way Mom does. So impressive that their father writes about it, wants to tell the whole world. But she's not some delicate flower either.

Noah's mouth finds her ear and his tongue darts out to just touch the shell of it for a moment, his breath hot and distracting. "You know I'd never give you a reason to kick my ass. But I love that you could."

"Mm-hmm, I know. Now hush. Watch the movie."

* * *

When their parents come home hours later to the dinner the three of them cooked together, Jack doesn't say anything at all. Not when his father starts grilling Noah about his GPA. Not when Mom announces very loudly that she's just going to go put her gun in the safe.

He could tell them that he already teased the lovebirds, but it's more fun just to watch it unfold. And yes, he's impressed by how well Noah holds his own against their parents. He knows that they can be pretty intimidating, so Bea's boyfriend does a good job not to just whither.

After dinner they pile into the living room, Dad somehow ending up between Beatrice and Noah, and Jack finally decides it's time to intervene. He suggests they play a game, kicking off the age-old, always heated debate about which one. And redirecting their parents' attention away from Noah.

It's fun to watch him, quiet and shy but always so serious about Bea. And even more so, it's fun to watch Bea's cheeks flame. On his way to the office to grab a game, Dad leans in close to Jack's ear and whispers. "Did you see her blushing?"

"Yeah, Dad." He laughs, shaking his head. "I saw."


	18. Torn

**Torn**

* * *

Lying on her stomach in their bed, Kate leafs through the brochure again without really taking any of it in. This is so much harder than she imagined it would be. Already, she's had to let go of the notion of going someplace brand new to both of them. Her ridiculous, jetsetter husband has been almost everywhere on the planet.

She's trying to get past it, she really is. But it's tough. And he keeps telling her to stop looking at the prices, that they don't matter, but some of these resorts are just obscene. She wants to pay for half, and there's no feasible way she can if they end up at any of the places Rick has shortlisted.

A knock on the bedroom door makes her groan and she drops her head to her hand, closes her eyes. "Ugh, what is it?"

"Katherine, darling, mind if I come in?" Martha's voice rings out, clear and crisp and perfectly enunciated.

Scrambling to sit upright, Kate presses her hands to her cheeks to try and hide the fierce blush she can feel rising up. "Martha, I am so sorry. I thought you were Castle."

"Richard asked me to tell you that he's running to the store to grab some ingredient he needed. And he asked me to check you hadn't ripped your hair out."

Kate watches her future mother-in-law as she sinks into the armchair at Kate's side of the bed, legs delicately crossed at the ankles. She folds her hands and places them in her lap, watches Beckett carefully. Glancing at the scattering of magazines around her, Kate sighs again and rakes a hand through her hair.

This is getting ridiculous. "I can't decide. They all seem so. . .extravagant."

"Show me, darling." Martha says, softer than her usual self. She holds a hand out and Kate takes it in her own, allows herself to be reeled in. Handing the magazines to Martha, she drags the other chair closer and positions it next to the older woman.

"I wanted to pay for half of it. But I can't afford any of the places he likes. And I don't want us to end up someplace that he hates." Kate tries to shrug off her anxiety, must do a terrible job because Martha's fingers close around her knee and squeeze gently.

"Oh honey. My son won't hate it, no matter what it is. I know he likes to live a little extravagantly at times, but darling, he loves you. All he really wants is to take you someplace wonderful."

Chewing on her bottom lip, Kate nods slowly and draws her knees up underneath herself in the chair. "I guess. . .I know that. But people already think I'm marrying him for the money, to cash in on Nikki Heat. I don't want him paying for everything."

"What people?" Martha scoffs, and then she pins Kate under a steely gaze. "Katherine Beckett, did you google search yourself?"

"Maybe a little bit." She mumbles, sheepish under this woman's judgement. It wasn't even like she meant to, not really. She was using his iPad in bed one night with him writing next to her, couldn't help the sudden yearning to know what they were saying.

She gets swatted on the arm for that, Castle's mother tutting at her. "That's never a good idea. The people that know and love the two of you know that it isn't like that. So screw the rest of them."

"Yeah. You're right." Kate laughs, offering Martha a grateful smile. "It's just that he's paying for so much of the wedding already, and he pays the rent here too and I just-"

"You don't want to feel like a kept woman, I understand." Martha nods, closing the magazines and setting them on the nightstand. "But Katherine, sweetheart, this is how my son works. He likes to spoil the people he loves. He's not doing it to keep you, or because he thinks you're beneath him. He does it because he loves you and he wants to give you nice things."

"I know." Kate sighs, rubbing at the knot of tension in her shoulder. It's just how he works, how he shows affection, she knows that. But sometimes she feels like she can't possibly compete.

"Honey, you've given him so much. Just by agreeing to marry him, you've made him the happiest I've ever known him. And all he needs from you is for you to let him spoil you a little bit." Martha grins, something conspiratorial in it as if the two of them are sharing a secret.

In a way, they are. "I don't want him to think that he has to buy me things to make me happy. It's him that I love, not his bank account."

"Katherine dear, he knows that. It's one of the things he loves most about _you_."

She feels herself blushing again at that, tries to guide them away from that particular subject. Not that she doesn't like hearing about how he loves her, but she sort of wants it to be just between them. It's embarrassing, talking about it with his mother. "The money aspect is irrelevant anyway if we can't pick a destination."

"Well, if you're having trouble deciding then why not do some kind of tour? You know, visit a whole bunch of places."

"He told me he wants time to completely relax and do nothing, too." Kate shrugs, picking at the ragged edge of a fingernail.

Martha laughs, her jewellery rattling with the movement. "So it's easy then. You take a couple of weeks to visit as many places as you can cram in, see the world, and then you take a couple more to just be at the beach. Relax together."

"I don't know if I have that many vacation days left." She says softly, not wanting to disappoint Martha now that she looks so delighted.

"Katherine, dear. I'm sure the lovely Captain Gates will cut you some slack. After all, it is your honeymoon."


	19. Raindrops

**Raindrops**

* * *

"Dad, come on, let's _go_." His son whines, tugging on Rick's hand. Snicket is straining against the leash clutched tight in Jack's grip, the dog's furry body already most of the way through the door. And yes, already soaked. The rain is coming in rivulets, beating against the roof of the cabin and fogging the windows so they can't see more than a couple of feet outside.

Spring break, his wife said. Let's go up to the cabin and enjoy the weather. Castle grumbles, turns a look over his shoulder at Kate. She's curled up in the armchair next to the fireplace with Bea in her lap, a blanket around the two of them and mugs of hot cocoa in each of their hands.

He's very jealous. Of cocoa and warmth and Kate's body close to his own. Jack wrenches harder still on his arm, half of his body out of the door. Yesterday, he promised his ten year old that they could take the dog out today and see if they can find the den they made last summer.

And okay, he had no idea that in order to do so they would be risking _drowning_, but. . .he made a promise to his son. And what does it teach the boy if he goes back on his word?

Castle tugs the hood of his obscenely expensive waterproof coat up over his head and zippers the thing closed, shoving his hands deep in his pockets and ushering the dog and the boy out of the door ahead of himself. Closing it on Kate's laughter, he sets a hand at Jack's shoulder and blinks through the blinding mist of rain.

"You can let him off the leash, my man. Nowhere for him to go."

Jack bends down to free the dog and the moment Snicket feels the slack he darts off, Castle's son running full pelt behind him. Watching the two streaks of colour in the rain-soaked, dreary grey of the day, Rick can't help but laugh.

He's drenched already, no use trying to fight it. Castle pushes his hood down and takes off at a run after his son, the three of them tearing through the underbrush. He doesn't know these woods as well as his wife does, didn't grow up here, and so he's not entirely sure that they'll be able to find their den at all.

It doesn't seem to really matter, not with the way Jack keeps pausing to let his father catch up and coming in for a high five, his little-boy grin assuring Rick that he's getting today right, regardless of the weather. "This is so cool, Dad. The girls suck, being inside."

"Hey buddy, respect your mom. And your sister. The girls don't suck just because they don't want to get wet." Rick says, ruffling his son's hair. The two of them walk a little slower now, more mindful of the path in this thicker part of the woods, and the dog is a silent shadow at their side.

This morning over coffee, their kids zombified in front of the television, Rick asked his wife if she wanted to join him today. She said no, that it should be a thing between Castle and his son. And she meant it, wasn't just feeding him an excuse. He knows that the weather doesn't bother Kate, wouldn't deter her from getting outside normally.

She was just looking out for her husband and her son. Well, and their daughter, who they wouldn't be able to get outside in the rain if they paid her. Bea is getting to be a little too proud, too vain over her long hair and her pretty clothes. So hopefully today, while the boys are gone, Kate can start to tackle their daughter's conceit.

"Dad, I think I see it!" Jack says, pointing a little ways ahead of them. Veering off the path, Rick's son whistles for the dog to follow and Snicket sticks close to his side, his wet body dampening Jack's pants even more than the rain already has.

Castle follows, and sure enough the den they poured all their time into last summer is still standing strong, looking almost the same as the day they left. It was a labour of love, to get the thing suited to Jack's very specific requirements.

They even enlisted the help of Kate's father; Papa had some old wood in the outhouse they used as ramparts for the walls. The den has a thickly thatched roof and when Jack goes crawling inside, he calls out in delight. "It's totally dry! Dad, get in here."

Struggling his way inside – it's definitely a tighter fit than last year; he makes a mental note to visit his building's gym more frequently – Rick arranges himself to sit comfortably leaning against the tree that supports their fort.

Jack sits opposite with Snicket at his side and pushes his sopping hair back out of his eyes, shivering and burrowing down a little deeper inside his coat. "You cold, son?"

"A bit." Jack shrugs, pushing on one of the walls of the den to test its strength. "This is so cool. I didn't think it'd still be here."

"Sure it would, it's indestructible right?" Rick grins, reaching out to scratch behind Snicket's ears. It's not entirely pleasant, the stench of wet dog that rolls off of him, but he doesn't even care.

This is why he loves the cabin, loves these woods. It's exactly the way it should be; a man, his son and their dog. He's building memories with Jack that he simply doesn't have with his own father, and he's pretty proud of himself.

He had no idea how to be a father to a son, hasn't ever had a role model for that. But he's doing a pretty good job, if the awe with which Jack regards him is any indication. "Do you think we should share this place with Mom and Bea?"

"Ew, no. No girl germs in the fort!"


	20. Open

**Open**

* * *

Standing at Alba's side in the arrivals lounge at the airport, Jack fists the hand not tangled in his girlfriend's and shoves it into the depths of his pocket. He's trying, he really is, but it isn't easy to mask the anxiety. Someone actually liked a building that he designed, liked it enough to build it.

And now his whole family are piling in from New York City for the opening of the opera house. "It's got nothing on Sydney." He grumbles again to the woman at his side, chewing on his lip.

Alba huffs and stretches up on tiptoe to kiss him, soothing that abused lip as she sucks it between her own. When she drops back to flat feet - and it still startles him how much smaller she is - she lifts a hand to his cheek and strokes over his stubble, her eyes tender and honeyed on his.

"Baby, come on. You know they're so proud of you. And you have nothing to prove." She murmurs just for him, carving them out a moment of calm in the bustle of the terminal. Her hair hangs over one shoulder in a fishtail braid and she's wearing flip flops, sunglasses perched atop her head.

This, their life, is a world away from the city he grew up in. And Alba too is like a slowed-down, calmer version of the women he knew in New York. So good for him. "I know you're right. Thank you."

"Is that them?" His girlfriend asks, and sure enough when he follows her gaze he sees his family crowding towards them both.

Bea breaks free from between their parents and charges for her brother, capturing both Jack and Alba in an embrace that squeezes a puff of air out of them. "Hey, little sister."

"Jack-Jack, Alba, you guys are so _tan_." Bea gapes, holding them both at arm's length and shaking her head. Tugging on the end of Alba's braid, she hooks an arm through Jack's girlfriend's elbow and leans in conspiratorially. "Your hair is so gorgeous. Teach me your ways."

Shaking his head at his little sister, Jack opens his arms to his parents and closes his eyes, revels in how it feels to have them both here again. He loves Florida, loves this life, but sometimes even now he gets a sharp pang of dreadful homesickness in his gut.

"Hi." He grins, taking the suitcase from his mother. Interesting, that she won't let Dad carry it for her but she's okay with Jack doing so. "How was the flight?"

"Good." Mom grins, intercepting Dad before he manages to hook an arm around Jack's neck. "Don't trap him, Castle. He doesn't want to walk with you, he wants to walk with Alba."

"Alba looks pretty taken." Jack smirks, watching the way the dark head of his sister dips close to his blonde girlfriend as they walk a little way ahead. Turning to face his father, he snorts a laugh at the exaggerated pout of Dad's mouth and hooks an arm around his shoulders.

Jack's father doesn't say anything, but his whole body hums with pleasure and he shoots a mock glare at Mom. And earns himself an eyeroll, but that's no surprise. They spill out of the airport into the beautiful Florida sunlight and Bea comes back towards them with that strange hopping-walk borne of excitement.

"Hey Mom, come walk with the girls. No one wants to be with smelly boys." She wrinkles her nose, sticking her tongue out at their father and snagging Mom's hand in her own. Twenty four years old now, but there's still so much childish jubilation in everything Beatrice does.

They make it to the car and Jack loads the luggage into the trunk, slams it closed and turns to face his family. "Okay, I'm driving. Mom, you're up front with me."

That gets a cry of indignation from Dad, but Jack knows it's for show. His father notices, and Jack does too, the soft touch of pleasure at Mom's cheeks. The smile she can't quite contain. When everyone's in the car, Jack rolls down the windows and rests his arm against the door, driving with one hand.

The breeze that rolls off the ocean fills the car with the fresh scent of salt and sunshine, and Bea leans past their father to talk to Alba. "Now I see why your hair is braided."

Jack's girlfriend laughs and hands over a hair tie to Bea, reaches in front to pass one to Mom too. "He always wants to drive with the windows down."

"Hey! I grew up in the city, okay. I'm still not bored of the ocean and the sunshine." The three in the back are laughing at him, but Mom's hand comes to his neck and squeezes gently. When he turns to look at her she's smiling, leaning back against the seat.

Retirement looks good on her. "Don't listen to them, Jack. It's good to see you so happy."

"Right back at you, Mom." He grins, focusing back on the road again. Flipping on the stereo, he recognises the song as one his sister loved as a teenager and cranks the volume, grins at her in the rearview mirror.

Mom is turning around to look in the back, her cheek pillowed against the headrest. "Castle, I miss the ocean. Remind me again why we aren't spending our retirement in the Hamptons?"

"Because you love the city, babe. You'd go stir crazy if we were at the beach all the time." Dad grins, leaning forward to tuck the flyaway strands of Mom's hair back behind her ears.

Jack glances away, sees Bea doing the same. Not because it's gross to see their parents this way (although. . .) but because it feels wrong, almost voyeuristic to see it. They adore each other in their old age, and it makes him feel oddly melancholic.

Alba's fingers come through the gap in his headrest, so aware of what this does to him, and the moment breaks open to allow the laughter in again.


	21. More

**More**

* * *

Lying in the bathtub with her eyes closed, Kate lets the tension of the day unwind and settle slowly into the water. Her body loose and limp, so even with the curve of her pregnant stomach cresting up out of the water she feels more graceful than she has in months. Smoothing her hand over her skin, she feels the insistent pulse of life against her palm.

And then the creak of the door as it pushes slowly open. She really needs to get around to oiling that. Maybe when she's not the size of a house. Even with her eyes closed, she knows who it is that's slipping inside of the bathroom to join her.

Kate waits until she hears the quiet, steady breathing right by her ear and then she rolls her head to the side and opens her eyes, comes face to face with her little boy. "Hey there, sweetheart. You want to get in?"

Her son is gloriously naked, balanced precariously on the stepping stool and Kate sits up in the bath to gather him close. Hands wrapping around his ribs, she lifts him over the lip of the tub and arranges her son to sit at her feet.

Bending her knees, she holds onto Jack's hands and drags him through the water, guiding him to lean against the slope of her shins. She wants to lean in close, kiss his cheeks, but the swell of the baby at her stomach prevents that. So she'll settle for raking her fingers through his hair.

"Daddy say I bath with you!" Jack giggles, throwing himself backwards to submerge his head under the water. Kate's heart lurches, but he comes up gasping, his eyes dripping with water and delight both.

Kate smirks, pushing his sodden hair back from his face so it doesn't annoy him. "I just bet he did. Daddy just doesn't want to deal with you and your antics, sweet boy."

"I heard that." Her husband's voice calls out from the bedroom and a knot of tension comes undone in Kate's stomach. At least he's right there, ready to intervene if Jack gets too boisterous. It's probably the only thing she has truly disliked about being pregnant this time around. Not being able to keep up with Jack, roughhouse with him. Now that she's getting close to her due date she can't even hold her son close, can't snuggle him the way he loves.

"Mommy?" Jack says, resting his elbows at her raised knees and pillowing his chin in his cupped hands. "Will my baby swim too?"

Kate gets her hands underneath her son to help him float, laughing as he kicks vigorously for a few moments. There's water all over the floor now, the slate tile hazardous. And oh, what a shame that she can't bend down to deal with it.

"Not right away, but when she's bigger then I'm sure she'll love to." Kate says softly, returning the beaming smile her boy gives her.

Jack pauses for a moment, his little face creased in thought, and then he looks to his mother again. "My baby have peanut butter?"

Jack's absolute adoration for peanut butter is a fairly recent discovery, one which both Kate and her husband are beginning to regret. He wants it all the time, for every meal, and last week Kate caught her son trying to clamber up onto the cabinet to fetch the jar.

"She might not like it, buddy. That's the fun thing about having a baby sister. You get to show her all of your most favourite things, and we get to see if she likes them too or not."

His whole face lights up and Jack scrambles to sit up, his chin resting against the lip of the bath tub. "Daddy!"

"What's wrong?" Castle's voice rings out, a note of panic to it as he hurries through the door. He visibly relaxes when he sees that Kate's alright, that his family are just fine. "What is it, Jack?"

"Daddy, we can teach my baby about dinosaurs? And the park?" Jack asks, wet hands reaching up and leaving darker, starfished imprints in Rick's button down.

He grins, leaning in to press a smacking kiss to Jackson's cheek before he strips off his clothes and climbs into the bathtub opposite Kate. Good thing the tub is so ridiculously enormous. Castle gathers their son up into his lap and snags Kate's feet as well, playing with her toes as he corrals Jack with an arm tight around his belly.

"That's our job, as baby girl's family. We all get to teach her about the world." Rick nuzzles at the warm skin of Jack's neck until the boy peals with laughter and wriggles out of Castle's grip.

Kate shares a soft look with her husband over top of their son's head, her hands smoothing over her stomach again. And then Jack swims his way closer and plants both hands at Kate's bump, leaning in so close his nose almost touches her skin. "Hi, my sister. I show you about toys."

He presses a sloppy kiss to Kate's stomach and she has to close her eyes against the wash of emotion, fumbling for Castle's hand. Her husband laces their fingers together and draws her hand up to his mouth, brushing a soft kiss to the back of it. "You okay?"

Swallowing hard, she manages a watery smile for him before she turns to their son. "You're a good big brother, Jack. Baby girl will be very lucky to have you."

"Will baby girl-?"

"No more, my man." Castle interrupts, pressing his finger to Jack's mouth to quiet the boy. "Mommy is super tired. Let's you and me get out of the tub and give her some time to relax, okay? We'll start dinner."

He clambers out, their son in his arms, and once they're both wrapped in towels he leans in to kiss Kate. "I love you, Mrs Castle."

"Me too, Mommy!" Jack squawks, almost toppling right out of Rick's grasp. "I love you, too."

And then she really is crying. Damn hormones.


	22. See

**See**

* * *

"God, you're so sexy." Castle grunts, fisting his hands in the silk that skims his wife's waist, slipping cool and fresh over her curves. He draws her in close, dips his head and his mouth is just brushing hers when-

"Daddy, what's sexy?" Two dark little heads pop up from the back of the couch to stare at them and Kate laughs, buries her face in Rick's shoulder.

Damn it. He groans, quiet enough that only his wife will hear, and turns to face his children. "It means that Mommy is very pretty and I would like to kiss her. But it's a word only for mommies and daddies to use, okay?"

"Kay'" Jack shrugs, and then he and his sister are disappearing back beneath the couch and falling right into the world of their cartoons again. Honestly, he'd forgotten they were even there. He had been cooking brunch, all of his attention focused on not burning the waffles, and then his wife had gotten home and his whole brain had just blanked out.

All of it just. . .gone. And yes, he burned the waffles, but Kate's body is warm and good everywhere it touches his and she's smiling, that soft and shy little-girl tilt to her mouth as she looks up at him. "You like them?"

"I- you're so- I don't- _yes_." He splutters, letting his hands slip just a little lower down. Low enough to be indecent, but the kitchen island will hide them from prying eyes. And he needs her, badly. Wants to drag her right back to bed, but they've got two small children and life just doesn't work that way anymore.

He'll take what he can get. In this case, the insistent touch of his mouth against hers and the slow slick of his tongue inside, the way she melts right into him. Her thighs align with his and her nose bumps his cheek and then the hard edge of plastic is pushing at his cheekbone and he pulls back, grinning at her.

She shakes her head, but she's smiling too. "Babe, they're just glasses. Come on. I'm a little worried that you find my terrible vision so attractive."

"It's not your _vision_." He huffs, kissing her hard for that. Her nimble finger slip beneath the waistband of his pajama pants and he jolts, breaking away from her mouth to breathe heavily at her neck instead. "It's this. . .sexy librarian thing. I'm a _writer_."

He knows that doesn't really explain it, but she laughs, and then she pushes her glasses down onto the end of her nose and regards him for a long moment, arms folded. It's severe, and achingly hot, and he wishes she were wearing a pencil skirt.

She opens her mouth and he hastens to kiss her again, shut her up. Whatever it is that she's going to say, he knows for a fact he can't handle it. Pulling away again, he breathes against her mouth and manages a wry smile. "Our children are right there, you horrible woman."

"I'm sorry. Poor baby." She soothes, and then her fingers are- and he's-

He yelps, twisting to get out of her grip and taking a stumbling step backwards, rubbing at the place where she just pinched him. So not nice. He pouts, refocusing his attentions at the waffle maker but casting her long, mournful glances every so often.

A little ridiculous, but it gets her to come closer. Her arm winds around his waist and she rests her cheek to his bicep, twists to kiss the sensitive skin inside of his arm. "I don't understand it. Not like you haven't seen my glasses before."

He discovered that Detective Beckett wears contacts around the time of her apartment blowing up. That first morning, when he walked into his kitchen to see her cooking, draped in one of his shirts, he knew he wanted her there forever.

A couple days after they wrapped the case, her dad showed up with some of her things from the cabin and Rick hovered in his bedroom, trying not to listen in but utterly unable to help it. He remembers Jim saying _no solution there, Katie, but I found your spare pair_. It had been baffling, a delightful enigma that he wrapped himself up in until Beckett called for him to come out of hiding and he came face to face with her.

And her glasses. She had blushed fiercely but stared him down, those wonderfully thick black frames drawing him helplessly to her gorgeous eyes. Such a total dork, even then, and he grins now at the memory. "Not nearly as often as I would like."

She only really wears them if she's reading in bed at night, and even then a lot of the time she makes do without. So yes, he's pretty excited to see them this morning. Little footsteps come pattering towards them – the show must be on a commercial break – and Kate bends down to wrap both of their children in her arms.

He hears her murmuring to them, the bodies of the three people he loves the most swarming around his ankles and then she's straightening up again, Bea in her arms and the glass of her spectacles already smeared with a sticky, miniature handprint.

Kate bounces their daughter at her hip, makes Beatrice giggle and bury her face in her mother's neck. So very shy around Mommy, delighted by any attention that Kate gives. And yes, Kate dotes on their daughter. On both of their children.

Leaning down, Castle hooks his hands underneath Jack's arms and swings him up to sit on the countertop. A safe distance away from the waffle maker, and their son seeks out the comfort of his mother's embrace, content to share with his sister.

Somehow, Kate morphs from devastatingly sexy to this tender, beautiful woman. The mother of his children. She takes her glasses off and tucks them into his pocket, leaning in to find his ear. "Keep those safe. We'll need them later."

Okay. . .so maybe sexy is still here too.


	23. Touch

**Touch**

* * *

"Stop fiddling." Lanie laughs, swatting at Kate's hands. Beckett manages to rein it in for all of five seconds, and then Lanie's circling Kate's wrists in her fingers and shooting her a mock glare. "I mean it, Katherine Beckett. Don't ruin my handiwork."

"I'm sorry." She murmurs sheepishly, dipping her head. It's been almost an hour that she's been in this chair, not allowed to touch anything at all. The thought of a gaggle of strangers doing her hair and makeup for today made her distinctly uncomfortable, so instead Lanie and Alexis have helped her get ready.

For her _wedding_. Oh, wow. That's. . .a lot to take in. The fiddling isn't like her, and she doesn't understand why she can't stop doing it. Because she's not nervous. Not at all. Today, she gets to marry the love of her life. Biting her lip, she meets her best friend's eyes in the mirror and lets the grin slowly transform her whole face.

Alexis went to find her father, wanted to speak to him before the ceremony, so it's just Kate and Lanie here now. The ME's eyes are soft, her mouth quirked up at the corners, and she wraps her arms around Beckett's shoulders in a sort-of hug. "I'm really proud of you, Kate."

"Oh God, don't" She groans, dropping her face to her hands. "You'll make me cry."

"Sorry honey." Lanie laughs, breaking away from their embrace to put the very last touches into Kate's hair. It looks beautiful; Lanie has done a truly wonderful job.

And Kate feels sort of like a princess. Not that she'd admit that out loud, but it's true. Her cheeks are flushed with delight, her eyes sparkling, and Alexis kept the makeup light. She was adamant that Kate's own natural beauty would be more than enough. "Can I get my dress on now?"

"Sure." Lanie grins, heading for the closet where Kate's dress hangs, still in the garment bag. Beckett slips off her robe and hangs it over the back of the chair, blushing fiercely when Lanie comes back and whistles at her. "Damn, girl. He's not gonna know what's hit him."

"That's the plan." She laughs, shaking her head at herself. They both know that Kate didn't necessarily _need_ to splash out on the obscenely expensive, matching lingerie set she's wearing underneath her dress today. All it takes to blow Castle away is her, just herself. But she wanted it, can't wait to see the look on his face tonight when he peels her dress off of her and finds out what she has on underneath.

Lanie removes the dress from the garment bag and pools it carefully on the floor, helps Kate step into the circle of fabric and then draws the silk all the way up Beckett's body and helps her thread her arms through the sleeves. They're lace, delicate and beautiful, and it overlays the bodice too. The skirt is simple, falling uninterrupted right to the floor.

It's simple, classy, and she feels gorgeous in it. Lanie heads around behind her to fasten the row of pearl buttons and Kate looks at herself in the mirror, can hardly believe she's finally made it here. She doesn't have a veil or a garter or _something blue_.

Their wedding isn't about that. It's about them getting married, making that promise to each other. And she can't wait. She thought Castle might take more persuasion, might want to get stuck into the pageantry of the day, but he was more than willing to let it be simple and private and small.

They're getting married on the beach at the Hamptons. He's already out there with the boys from the precinct and their collection of guests. All waiting for her.

There's a knock at the door and Alexis peeks her head around it, gasping when she sees Kate. "Wow. . .you look breathtaking, Kate. Lanie, we need to go. Mr Beckett is here."

And then Lanie is grabbing Kate in a last hug and murmuring against her ear, her voice thick with barely contained emotion. "I love you, Beckett. I'm so happy for you."

"I love you, too." She laughs, grinning wider when Lanie huffs and hurries out of the room before she really starts crying. Kate's father comes inside and closes the door softly behind himself, pausing next to it to take his daughter in.

"Katie. Sweetheart, you look beautiful. So much like her."

"_Dad_." She breathes, and then her father is hurrying to wrap her in his arms and murmur soothing nonsense at the shell of her ear. "Hush, Kate. I know you miss her, I do too. So much. But this is a happy day."

"I know." She manages a watery smile, tugging out of his grip. If he holds her for much longer she is really just going to fall apart.

Her father nods and doesn't push her for any more. "You won't believe how excited Rick is, Katie-bug. I've bumped into him several times this morning just wandering around. He can't sit still."

"Sounds like Castle." She laughs, bubbling over with love for him.

Her eyes flick over to the door and she shifts her weight, glancing back to her father. She doesn't want to rush, knows he needs this moment with his daughter before she gets married. But she doesn't want to wait anymore. She's so ready to do this, marry Castle.

Like always, her dad gets it without her having to say anything. "Okay, I know. You're excited too, huh?"

"I can't wait." She grins. Her father hooks his arm at her elbow and they make it half way to the door before she falters, untangles herself and heads back for the dresser.

It's conventional to wear her engagement ring on her right hand today, she knows. But her ring is safe in Lanie's clutch purse. Instead, she slides her mother's ring off of the chain and slips it onto her finger. So Johanna can be a part of this day.

And then she can go get married.


	24. Ice

**Ice**

* * *

"Hurry up!" Castle calls up towards the staircase, sighing heavily and getting a raised eyebrow from the dog. Snicket lifts his head from his paws and cocks his head at Rick, but he isn't holding the leash and so the dog already knows that he's staying at home for this one.

Kate appears from their bedroom, wrapped up warm in coat and gloves, and he uses the loose tails of her scarf to reel her in. He presses a smacking kiss to her mouth that makes her laugh and she shoves at his chest, earns herself some room so she can tuck the ends inside of her coat.

"You excited?" She murmurs once she's all tucked in, coming back to wrap both her arms around his and hug it close to her chest, his elbow nudging at her stomach where she's padded by layers and layers of warmth. Head coming to rest at his shoulder, Kate twists to glance up at him before she straightens out again.

He brushes a kiss to the top of her head, almost wishing he could get his arms properly around her. But he loves this too, the way she clings, nuzzling close to him as if for warmth before they're even outside. "Yeah. I'm excited."

"Me too." She laughs, peeling herself away from him when their daughter appears at the top of the staircase.

They watch her come all the way down and Kate meets her at the bottom step, swinging her up into her arms and blowing a noisy raspberry in the creases of Beatrice's neck. Their daughter has her hair back in a ponytail to tame the curls somewhat, and as she turns around to look at her father Kate gets a face full of hair and splutters, pushing the rogue strands free from her mouth.

"Hey there, beautiful girl." Kate is murmuring to their little girl, her smile so wide and gorgeous. "You ready to learn to skate?"

Bea blushes under the intensity of having Kate's complete, undivided attention. Rick knows all too well what that's like, how it takes you by surprise. Their daughter is nodding at her mother, a gloved hand splayed at Kate's neck. "Yes Mommy. I ready."

"Good." Kate smiles, kissing Beatrice's cheeks again. Jack finally, _finally_ appears from upstairs and comes grinning to his father's side, taking Castle's hand.

He loves this, how unashamedly their children still love them. And he holds on to it dearly, because he and his wife both know Jack's getting to an age where he's going to think it's not cool to be seen holding their hands or getting a kiss on the cheek.

For now, though, their son is glancing expectantly up at him, his gaze still a little awe-filled. Kate has always said that the kids worship him, adore him, but often he finds it difficult to believe. It's only occasionally, when they're looking at him like this, that he knows it to be true.

"Dad, can we go." Jack says, tugging on Rick's hand now and he laughs, shakes his head to clear away his sudden funk. No use getting maudlin over how fast his children are growing up.

Castle opens the front door to the loft and ushers his wife and daughter out ahead of him, Jack staying close to his side as he locks it behind them. He and his son reunite with the girls at the elevator and Jack forgoes his turn to press the call button, lets his little sister have the honour instead.

Squeezing his son's shoulder, Rick bends down to his level a moment and meets his eyes, lets him see the pride that bubbles over. "Thank you, Jackson. You're a very good big brother."

"That's okay, Dad." Jack shrugs, untangling himself from Castle's hand at his shoulder. Right, so his kid is a little embarrassed to have been called out for being sweet, being kind to his sister. He lets him go, standing up slowly and getting a soft smile of understanding from his wife.

Kate still has Bea in her arms but their daughter wriggles to get down, wanting to play with her big brother. His wife looks a little lost, just for a moment, without her baby girl in her arms. And then she slides her hand down into the bottom of his pocket, her body bumping up right against his.

The elevator arrives and they crowd inside the car, the kids hopping excitedly around their feet. Bea and Jack love riding the elevator, some elaborate game just between the two of them that involves balancing on one leg and something to do with the floor tiles.

He doesn't really understand it, but no matter. They're contented, and better still, they're distracted. Means he can lean in and kiss Kate slowly, thoroughly, only breaking away from her when the bell sounds out and the doors open up onto the lobby.

This time, he gathers Bea up and Kate takes Jack's hand. These are the rules, drilled into both kids since they were tiny. It doesn't matter if they get separated from the other two, as long as they stay with the parent they're supposed to be with.

Ambling down the block towards the subway station, Castle listens to his daughter's bubbly chatter. They've never taken her ice skating before - even Jack has only been once - and the excitement has her even more talkative than usual.

"Daddy, what if I fall down?"

"Mommy or me will be right there to catch you." He murmurs back, nuzzling her. She reminds him of Kate when she's like this, her excitement pushing her to seek out physical contact. In the weeks leading up to their wedding, his wife could hardly keep her hands off of him. "And you're so brave, Little Bean. I know you'll get right back up again."

Because that part of her mother is in Beatrice too. The warrior, the indomitable force. There's no way an ice rink is gonna take her down.


	25. Mist

**Mist**

**xxx**

"You all strapped in?" Kate turns around to face their kids, gets a nod of affirmation from each of them and pats her husband's thigh as a signal for him to pull out of Aunt Theresa's driveway. The sedan is roomy, especially in the back, so at least their squabbling children are separated for the drive back to the city.

It's been a great weekend, catching up with her father's sister. Some of Kate's cousins stopped by as well, fawned over Beckett's children. She was always the baby of the family; her next oldest cousin has ten years on her.

The reminder of her wider family, her children's family, has been good for her. And Castle knows it, keeps giving her these looks as if he's desperate to talk it out with her. In deference to that, Kate leaves her hand on his thigh as he drives.

It's been thirteen years since they got married, but Rick is still pretty terrified of Aunt Theresa. It took him most of the weekend to drop his public persona and just _relax_ around her. "Hey? Thank you."

"For what?" He smiles, flicking a glance at her before he returns his attention to the road. She likes driving, that's no secret, but she really does love when her husband drives too. Loves the shift of muscle in his forearms, the things concentration does to his face.

"Letting us do this. I know Aunt Theresa isn't your favourite person to be around." She shrugs, glancing in the rearview mirror to make sure the kids aren't hanging on her every word the way they do. It's late, the night like a shroud around the car, and Bea's eyes are already drooping closed. Could mean she isn't listening; could mean her hearing is even more heightened than usual.

"It's not that." Her husband hurries to assure her. "I just don't think that she thinks I'm good enough for you."

The terrible part is that it's sort of true. Aunt Theresa hates Castle's public persona, hates that he's somewhat famous. And the way she bristles towards him makes him hide behind the shield of his celebrity status, means he's never himself around her. It's a vicious cycle that Kate has been trying to break for years.

"You're right. She doesn't think mystery novelist Richard Castle is good for me. But that's not _you_." He snorts, self-deprecating the same way he always is when they visit Kate's aunt. Another way he tries to mask the true hurt. "She doesn't know the Rick parts of you. She doesn't know that you're the person I trust more than anyone in the world. That you're the best possible husband and father to our children that I could have asked for."

"I just want her to like me." He murmurs, his forehead creased with dismay. Kate smoothes two fingers over his skin, scrubs away at that upset until she earns herself a smile.

They're on a road that winds through the countryside now, and mist is rolling in from all sides. It makes her pulse kick a little harder, the spooky feel of it distracting her from her husband's pain momentarily. When she looks at him again he glances right back at her and grins, makes his eyebrows dance.

"Kids, look outside. This is the perfect time for scary stories, right?"

"I have one." Kate says, twisting around to see both kids straining forward in their seats. Hanging on her every word, and she swallows. Even at ten and twelve, they still love their father's stories. Mom's are still good, but she can't always compete with Castle. "It's good."

She closes her eyes, tries to remember the story exactly the way that Maddie told it to her all those years ago in high school. Pretty soon, she gets swept away in the careful crafting of the story and it trips out of her mouth easily.

There's a hushed – terrified – silence in the car. Even Castle isn't interjecting like he usually would. When Kate reaches the end of her story the quiet seems to push up against the windows. With the mist, and the wind ripping fiercely through the trees, Kate has spooked even herself.

Turning back to face her kids, she sees that Jack has put on a brave face, but his bottom lip is white where he bites down hard on it. Bea's face is almost totally obscured by the stuffed animal she clings to, and Kate swallows, turning back to look at her husband.

"Too much?"

"Just a little." He snorts, raising an eyebrow even as he drives. "Kate, I swear, if something comes out of the mist right now. . ."

"Nothing's going to come out of the mist." She rolls her eyes, turning back to face her kids again. "Stories are just that. Stories. They can affect us, they can make us feel things so deeply, but they're not real. And anyway, I have a gun."

"Yeah, at _home_." Castle moans, hamming up his fear for their children. It makes both of them laugh, and then Bea leans forward in her seat to awkwardly pat her father's cheek.

"It's okay, Dad. Mom can still kick butt without it."

"That's right." Kate grins, holding out her hand for a high five from her daughter. Bea returns it, settling back in her seat again but at least looking a little less freaked out now. "That's our job, as Mom and Dad. We keep you safe, no matter what."

She will move heaven and earth to protect these kids. From the monsters in stories, and from the monsters that walk the streets of their city. Castle's driving one-handed now, his other curled around her knee as if in protection.

Yes. . .she'd give her own life for him, too. The three people in the car with her now are the most precious thing she has, the thing she loves most. "Babe." Her husband says, squeezing her knee. "Come on. There's no tragedy. Not today."

Right. No tragedies today.


	26. Breathe

**Breathe**

* * *

"Slow down." Jack laughs, framing Alba's face in his palms and leaning in to press a kiss to the tip of her nose. It makes her grin and crash into him, her forehead hitting his shoulder and her arms looping low at his waist. They're at home, finally, and today went so well.

Even telling his parents that he and Alba are moving to Nokomis went so much better than he was anticipating. And best of all, his girlfriend slotted right in to his family as if they'd always been holding a space open just for her.

"Your mom is amazing. _Amazing_." Alba enthuses, almost bouncing with excitement. After her nerves this morning, it's so good to see her light and happy and filled with delight. "Seriously."

"I know. You said." Jack grins at her, coming back to kiss her properly. She lifts into it, her fingers at his shoulders to keep him close.

Outside the windows of their apartment the rain is pouring down, the rapidly darkening sidewalk washed clean. During the walk from the subway stop to their apartment they got utterly soaked, and now Alba's hair is plastered to her cheeks, curling around her ears as it dries off.

She clung to his hand and ran with him along the streets, their laughter ringing out as they blinked water out of their eyes. They came thundering up the stairs to their floor, leaving puddles on every step behind them, and pushed their way inside of the apartment.

Jack had tried to nudge her towards the bathroom, wanting to shower together and warm up, but she had stopped him with her breathless exhilaration as she rambled on about how amazing his family are. Now, he pushes the sodden rope of her hair back out of the way and smoothes his fingers at her cheeks as if to gentle her.

"I'm so glad you get along with them."

"Of course." She shrugs, offering him a shy smile. "They're your family. They love you. We have that in common."

That makes him grin, his heart pounding, and he turns her around and walks her towards their bathroom. Inside, he flips on the shower to let the room fill up with steam as they hurry to peel off their wet clothes and drop them on the floor.

He crowds her into the shower cubicle, nuzzling at the bare skin of her shoulder a moment before he gets underneath the spray and rakes his hands through his hair. "They loved you, you know. I can tell."

"Really, you think so?" Alba hums, pouring shampoo into the cup of her palms and turning away from him to massage it through her hair. It's getting long, longer than he's ever seen it, and he loves getting to card his fingers through it when they curl up on the couch.

He grins, lathering shower gel between his palms and scrubbing over his skin. "Yeah. They know how good you are for me."

"We're good for each other." She says, suddenly so very serious. He nods his agreement, kissing her fiercely with water pouring down between them so he doesn't have to say the words. They finish showering and Alba shuts off the water, stepping out of the cubicle and handing him a towel from the rail.

She wraps her own around herself and moves for their bedroom, glancing over her shoulder to make sure he's following. As if he would possibly consider another option.

"Is it obscene if I put my pajamas on now? It's barely seven." Alba asks him, already rifling through the drawer for a tank top and sleep shorts.

He laughs, snagging a t shirt and pajama pants and shrugging his way into them. "Not at all. Are you hungry?"

"God no." She groans, pressing a palm to her stomach. "Your dad made so much food. I never wanna eat again."

He laughs at that, climbing onto their bed and rolling onto his stomach to watch her potter around their bedroom. She scrubs through her hair with the towel and starts to braid it, leaning back against the dresser to watch him as she does.

"Dad's like that. It's one of the ways he tries to take care of everyone. Mom said that was one of the first ways she knew that he loved her. Because he was always bringing her food at the precinct."

"Your parents have the most amazing story. Your mom was telling me a little about it while you and Bea were helping your dad in the kitchen." Alba beams, apparently delighted to have been allowed a moment alone with Jack's mother.

He knows that feeling all too well, how incredible it is to sit with Mom and just talk. She has this way of centering her focus on you, making you feel like you're the most important thing to her in that moment. And it's making his girlfriend blush adorably, just the memory of it.

"They do. It used to gross us out as kids, but now that I know what it's like to love someone that much, I appreciate that my parents have that."

Alba comes crawling onto the bed with him at that, draping herself over his back and pressing an open-mouthed kiss to his cheek. Stroking her fingers up and down the soft skin inside of his forearm, she props her chin at his shoulder. She smells so good, fresh out of the shower; he'd roll over and spread her out beneath him if this right here wasn't so good.

"I love you, too. I'm happy to be a part of your family."

That makes him shiver with excitement, his mind hurtling back to that conversation in the kitchen with his father. About marrying her, but not rushing into it.

He understands his father's advice, respects Dad too much to ignore it outright, but. . .he doesn't want to wait. Not for this. He wants Alba as his wife, so he can live out the same happiness his parents have had for so many years.


	27. Consent

**Consent**

* * *

"Dad!" Bea comes spilling through the front door of the loft, almost tripping over the dog as she runs through to her father's office. Castle watches her progress through the living room from the bookshelf walls of his study, laughing to himself at her exuberance. "Dad?"

"I'm right here, Bea. What is it?"

His daughter flops down dramatically into one of the armchairs opposite his desk, a letter clutched in one hand. She levels him with a look for a moment, everything on her face showing that she wants his full cooperation, so he closes the lid of his laptop and waits on her.

"There's this class trip to Europe. We had to apply, because only five of us can go. We had to say why we think we'd get a lot out of it. And I got in!" She grins, taking her hair down from the ponytail she wears it in for school and winding it into a braid instead.

He takes a moment to digest that, folding his arms and leaning back in his chair. "You applied for this thing and you didn't tell us?"

"Well. . .I didn't want you guys to know, if I didn't get in. I talked it over with Allie, though." She shrugs, chewing on her lip.

It makes his heart pound ferociously, so much tenderness towards his baby girl. She would have been embarrassed to have failed, is what she's not saying, and it's just. . .so much like Kate. "Baby, you know Mom and I would have been so proud of you even if you didn't get in. That's an amazing thing to even do, put yourself out there that way."

"Doesn't matter." She rolls her eyes at him, shifting around in the armchair to hang her legs off of the arm of it. "I _did_ get in. But Dad. . .it's expensive."

Ah. Right. "Honey, you know I'm happy to just sign the cheque right now. It's not like we can't afford it. But Mom-"

"Will want me to earn it." His daughter butts in, already well versed in how her parents deal with money issues. It's been fifteen years since they got married, but Kate still struggles with letting him spoil her. And she only uses his credit card when it's to buy things for their children.

"Right. I can try and talk to her about it if you want?" He offers. In all honestly, he's probably going to have to persuade his wife to let their daughter go at all, regardless of the money.

Europe is a long way, and Beatrice is only twelve. His wife sees the horrors of the world at work every day, and so she can be a little overprotective of the kids. It's totally understandable, and he does his best to ease her worries and persuade her to let their children have some freedom. Which Alexis finds hilarious; she's always asking what happened to the overprotective father she grew up with.

"No." His youngest daughter shrugs, running her nail along the sharp edge of the paper. "I don't mind working for it. As long as she lets me go."

Rick grins, heading around the desk to sit on the arm of the chair and kiss his daughter's forehead. "Mom travelled a lot when she was younger. So tell her how much you want to see the world and experience other cultures. Trust me, she'll sympathise with you."

Maybe it's a little cruel to manipulate Kate that way, but he knows she won't really mind it. And if she does? He'll just have to make it up to her.

* * *

When Kate makes it home, her husband and daughter are disturbingly chipper. Beatrice actually takes her coat at the door and hangs it up in the closet, coming back to hug her tight. And then she scampers off to lay the table for dinner without even being asked, and Castle gives her the kind of toe-scrunching kiss he usually reserves for when their kids are _not_ in the same room.

Kate raises an eyebrow at her son and he shrugs, apparently just as bemused as she is. Shaking her head, she joins her family at the table for dinner. They make it all the way through their meal in relative normality, although Bea keeps opening her mouth to speak and then snapping it closed again whenever Castle shoots her a look.

After the plates are cleared away, Kate folds her arms and leans back in her chair, pinning her little girl under her stare. "What's going on with you? You're being weird."

"Uh. Mom." She starts, glancing to Castle as if for help. He sets a hand at her shoulder and squeezes; Bea takes a deep breath and finishes her explanation with her eyes closed. "I got through the application process so I'm one of five people from my class that were chosen to go on a trip to Europe in spring break. It's pretty expensive, but I'll work for it and earn the money and everything."

"Europe?" Kate lifts an eyebrow, manages to hold her interrogation stare for a couple seconds and then she breaks, grinning at her daughter. "Wow! That sounds amazing, sweetheart.

"Really? You're gonna let me go?" Bea gapes, meeting her father's eyes again. Castle looks just as confused, and Kate's heart twists in her chest.

Do her whole family think she's some sort of horrible dragon that won't let anyone have any fun? "Of course I'm gonna let you go. Why wouldn't I?"

"Well. . .it's a long way."

"Yeah, but you'll be with school. You'll be fine." Kate smiles, opening her arms to her daughter and accepting Bea's ferocious hug.

She presses a smacking kiss to Kate's cheek and then heads for the staircase, her phone clutched tight in her hand. "Thanks Mom, you're the best! I have to call Harriet and tell her I can go."

"She's right." Castle says, suddenly sombre. He reaches for her hand and squeezes, offering her a soft smile. "You're the best, Kate."


	28. Magic

**Magic**

* * *

"Go sit." Jack huffs, shoving on his grandfather's arm to try and push him towards the couch. Kate catches her father's look and shrugs, shifting a little closer to her husband's side to make room for Papa on the couch too.

Martha and Alexis have an armchair each, the redheads regal and shaking their heads in amusement. Alexis' husband is on the floor and Bea surveys her family slowly, making sure that she has everyone's attention.

And then she's clambering onto the coffee table, steadfastly ignoring the stern glare that Kate fixes her with. Jack hurries over to the couch and leans in to his mother's ear, whispering to her. "It's okay Mommy, it's part of the show."

"I'm not sure I like this part of the show." Castle huffs at her side, watching Bea's every move. His thighs are tense in preparation to spring up and catch their girl at any moment.

Martha throws her head back and laughs, her hands clasped together and pressed to her chest as she watches them both. "Oh you two, don't be so uptight. She's just fine, aren't you Beatrice?"

"Yes Grammy." Bea simpers, all pursed lips and batted eyelashes.

Kate's father nudges his elbow into her side at that, smirking at her. "You were just like that, you know. Thought you knew everything about everything."

She shoots him a glare and steadfastly ignores her husband chuckling from her other side. God knows he's got an ego of his own.

"Is everyone ready?" Jack says, hands held out away from his sides. His new cape is knotted at his neck and as he moves it swirls and ripples, midnight coloured velvet scattered with stars.

Alexis groans and starts to stand up from her chair, getting a helping hand at the small of her back from her husband. "I gotta pee. I'll be quick. I'm sorry."

She waddles towards the guest bathroom and Kate offers her a sympathetic look, remembering all too well what that's like. The constant, niggling pressure on her bladder wasn't so bad with Jack, but with Bea she almost went completely insane.

"Did you tell Papa and Gram what's happening?" Castle asks their kids, his arm stretching over the back of the couch to curl around her shoulders. Kate drops her head back to rest in the crease of her husband's elbow and watches their daughter do her little wriggly dance on top of the table, Jack fiddling with something behind the couch.

Their little boy pokes his head around to look at his father, hair sticking up all over the place and a mischievous grin curving his cheeks. It makes Kate's heart stutter in her chest a moment, the way she loves these kids so rich and good inside, and then Castle presses a kiss to her temple and she thinks she might just burst.

"Mommy did teach us magic tricks. We're doing a show." Jack says, all of that wonderful enthusiasm he gets from his father spilling out.

Martha makes a noise of assent and settles a little more comfortably in her chair, her graceful fingers adorned with cocktail jewellery that Bea finds completely fascinating. Even now, half of her attention is on her grandmother as she dances on the table top.

When Alexis comes back from the bathroom, Jack leaps up from where he had settled on Castle's lap and stands in front of the table. His sister is doing her best to be very still, which for Bea mostly involves a little less dancing than usual.

"Ladies and gentlemen." Jack starts, grandiose and proud as he sweeps the top hat off of his head and holds it aloft before he settles it back on. "Oh, and Daddy."

That makes Bea erupt in giggles, and Castle's huff of mock affront only makes it worse. Kate pats his cheek, leaning in to kiss the edge of his jaw and murmuring to him loud enough that everyone can hear. "There there, Daddy."

"We are proud to present, the Great Jack-dini and his assistant, the Bedazzling Beatrice." Jack sends them what Kate assumes is supposed to be a mysterious look and stalks around behind the table, rummaging underneath it for a moment.

"Bedazzling?" Alexis' husband says from the floor, an eyebrow lifted, and Rick shrugs.

"I may have helped him out with that one."

Jack's head pops up from behind the table again and he frowns, pointing at his father. "Shh. No talking. I need absolute quiet so I can concentrate on the magic."

From underneath the table their son produces some of the starter trick sets they bought when they visited Drake's Magic Shop a couple weeks ago and Bea styles out some complicated hand flourishes, pressing her palms to her cheeks and giggling when her grandfather winks at her.

And then everyone is rapt. For an almost-six year old, Jack is really very good. He slips up a couple times, but the adults let it go uncommented and by the end their rapturous applause isn't even hammed up for effect.

"That was wonderful, Jackson darling." Martha opens her arms to her grandson and he goes, settling himself on her lap and shooting his father a pleased little grin. "You're a natural performer."

Bea goes slinking towards her grandfather and curls up in his arms, snuggled close to her Papa, and Kate leans in to kiss her daughter's cheek. "You were such a good assistant, baby. Jack couldn't have done it without you."

She gets a shy smile in return and Bea presses her face to Kate's father's neck. He laughs, wrapping his arms around his granddaughter and murmuring softly to her. With both kids occupied and Alexis and Eli drawn into a conversation with Martha and Jack, Kate gets the rare chance to burrow in close to her husband.

"He was good, right? We're not just being biased?" Castle murmurs, his hand sneaking underneath her arm to curl at her waist.

Kate cranes her neck to look back at him and grins, following his gaze over to their son. "He was great."


	29. Dismiss

**Dismiss**

* * *

"Nikki!"

Kate's head snaps up from her book and she frowns, glancing towards the kitchen. Her husband's body is half inside of the refrigerator and she turns right around, getting to her knees and leaning against the back of the couch to watch him.

"Nikki!" He calls again, and Beckett frowns. Slotting her bookmark inside of the novel to mark her page, Kate sets it on the couch cushion next to her and stands up to head to the kitchen.

When she reaches her husband she laces her arms low around his waist, her nose at his spine, and she chuckles when he jerks in her grip. "Did you mean me?"

He turns in her embrace, frowning down at her, and she doesn't miss the blankness in his eyes. It's only there for a moment and then he's grinning, leaning in to kiss her softly and skating a palm up to settle between her shoulder blades. "Of course. Always you."

"Rick." She frowns, scratching at the stubble that covers the hollows of his cheeks with her fingertips. He leans in to her touch, almost purring in satisfaction as his eyes slide closed. "Tell me you were just joking around."

"Of course." He shrugs, his eyes coming open again to meet hers. Kate does her best to swallow back the sick feeling in her guts, letting him go so he can carry on gathering the sandwich meats for their lunch. It isn't the first time this has happened.

Isn't the first time her husband has looked at her as if he's never seen her before. "Rick, please. Don't lie to me."

"Beckett." He grits out, closing the refrigerator with more force than is really necessary and pressing his fist against it for a moment. His eyes are screwed closed again, but this time it's not in delight. "Leave it."

Kate opens the floodgates, letting the panic and the terror come pouring in. Tears spill down her cheeks and she lets him see it, all of it. Because if there's one thing that has always spurred Castle into action, it's Kate's pain.

Already, he's dragging her against his chest and cupping the back of her skull, his lips at her temple. "Shh, baby, come on. It's okay. I'm okay."

"You're not okay." She growls, mouth open on a strangled sob. Anguish fists its ugly claws in her ribs and she draws in a shaky breath, her fingers tangling in his shirt. "You keep forgetting me."

She feels the sticky wetness of Castle's own tears at the top of her head, his embrace crushing her, and she hopes to god Bea doesn't drop in for one of her unannounced visits this afternoon. Since she finished college three years ago, their daughter has been living in the city and she often stops by just to say hello to her parents. If she finds them crying together in the kitchen. . .it doesn't bear thinking about.

"I'm scared, Kate." He whispers, and she works her arms free from around his waist to cradle his head against her instead.

And now it's her turn to soothe him, fingers carding through his hair over and over and desperate kisses pressed to his cheek and jaw. "I know babe. It'll be alright. But we can't keep dismissing it as nothing."

"You're right." He nods, letting her pull back and grab tissues for them both. He wipes away the tear tracks on his cheeks and blows his nose, balling up the tissue and tossing it into the trashcan from several feet away. "You're right."

Kate drags him with her towards the couch and curls up close at his side, her head pillowed against his chest. Stroking her fingers over the back of his hand, she gives them both a moment to collect themselves before she speaks. "Richard Castle, we've been married for nearly thirty years. I'm going to be right by your side through this, whatever happens. I love you, so much."

"I love you too, Kate." He chokes out, his hand folding around her knee. "I'm not ready to leave you yet."

Her desolation must show all over her face because he clutches at her again, his embrace almost stifling. She closes her eyes against his chest and draws in a deep breath, letting the familiar smell of him wash right over her.

"You're not leaving me. We have an amazing life, wonderful kids and an amazing grandson. I'm not letting you get out of our life together that easily."

"I don't want out." He murmurs against the crown of her head. The dog comes skulking over from his bed and jumps up onto the couch, laying a heavy head on Castle's thigh.

Kate smoothes her fingers over Kit's head, the silky fur soothing her just a little. "I know. You're not going anywhere, Rick."

"Kate. . ." He starts, one hand peeling away from her to smooth down the dog's furry body instead. Kit rolls onto his back, seeking affection, and the distraction seems to loosen the words from Castle's tongue. "You'll be okay, right? If something happens to me."

"Don't talk like this, Rick. Nothing's going to happen to you."

"But _if it did_." He grits out, insistent. His body underneath her is rippling with tension and she kisses him, soft and seductive until he relaxes by increments.

Eventually, he manages a smile for her, strained though it is. "I'll be okay. You've given me so many happy memories, and a beautiful family. But Castle, let's not think about that. Because I really don't want to have to think about not having you."

"I'll put up a fight, Kate." He says insistently, taking her hand so their palms kiss. "I won't leave you."

She does her best to believe it, but even hours later when Bea stops by to get dinner with them she's dwelling on it. And of course her daughter picks up on it, frowning at her from over top of her wine glass.

Doesn't matter. Beatrice can glare all she wants; Kate is not burdening their children with this.


	30. Marathon

**Marathon**

* * *

"Where are you going?" Castle whines, grabbing for his daughter's hand as she tries to stand up from the couch. "Family time."

Bea laughs at him, sticking out her tongue and leaning in to kiss her mother's forehead before she carries on. "I'm getting ice cream."

"Oh. You're forgiven, then." Castle grins, ushering her towards the kitchen. His wife is wrapped up in his arms, her sweaty forehead pressed to his neck and a blanket folded around her body. "How are you feeling, love?"

She murmurs, drawing the blanket up a little closer underneath her chin and wriggling. Her feet are in their son's lap at the other end of the couch, sharing the space with Snicket's head. "Not so great."

"Ice cream help?" He says softly, kissing her forehead. Partly to check her temperature again, yes, but mostly just because he worships Kate Beckett and he'll do anything to help her feel just a little better.

Kate shifts a little, managing to sit up and lean against the wall of his chest. He bands an arm around her waist to keep her in place, pushing her damp hair back from her cheeks. Earlier today, when he asked what she needed, she whispered to him that having her family close by makes her feel a lot better.

So he corralled both of the kids and the dog and arranged everyone on the couch for an impromptu _Temptation Lane_ marathon. Kate's been dozing off and on through much of it, but he knows that just the warmth of their family surrounding her is a comfort.

"Ice cream sounds great." She says, her voice hoarse, and he winces in sympathy. Yesterday, she forced herself to work even with the pounding headache she grumbled about over breakfast. But this morning she didn't even try, rolling over onto her stomach when the alarm woke them and asking him to please call in sick for her.

He's grateful that he didn't have to persuade her to take the day off from work. For once, Kate listened to her body when it told her she needs to rest. And Rick is really, really enjoying getting to dote on her.

Bea comes back to the couch with bowls of ice cream for everyone and hands them out, settling back down on Castle's other side and wrapping her own blanket around her legs. "How are you feeling, Mom?"

"A little better, thank you baby." Kate croaks, spooning a mouthful of ice cream past her lips and groaning around it. She's still a little limp against him, all of her energy sapped as she fights this thing, but she does seem brighter.

Bea looks delighted to have helped her mother in any small way, turning her face away in a fruitless attempt to hide her pleased little grin. Shifting his weight underneath his wife where his leg has gone to sleep, Rick kisses her cheek and trails his fingers up and down her bare arm.

On screen, the episode of _Temptation Lane_ finishes up and the credits roll. Kate nudges her toes into their son and nods her head towards the screen, a hand over her mouth to muffle her coughing. "Can you change the disk buddy?"

"Ugh, fine." Jack groans, but there's a lift of pleasure to his mouth too. He doesn't love the show all that much, but he _does_ love his mother and he'll suffer through it for her. "You need anything while I'm up?"

"Another tissue?" Kate sniffs, dropping her head back against Castle's shoulder and pouting. She's miserable, he knows. No one likes being sick, obviously, but Beckett takes it harder than most. She's so used to being active, being fit and healthy and so this is awful for her.

Jack tosses the box of tissues from the end table towards his father and Castle catches it, tugging one free and offering it to his wife. Even blowing her nose, Kate somehow manages to be adorable. The next episode of the show starts up and Jack comes back to the couch, wriggling his way back underneath of his mother's feet and the dog both.

"Uh-oh." Kate lifts up to whisper against Castle's ear, but before he gets a chance to even ask what's wrong the kids are groaning loudly and planting their hands over their faces.

"Is that _Gram_?" Bea wails, turning to glare at her father and he laughs out loud.

"Right! I forgot she was on this show." He chuckles. And then he glances at the screen and sees his mother with her tongue down some guy's throat and just-

Ew. No.

"We can skip her episodes if you want, babe." Kate says, patting his thigh and smirking at him.

He peels open one eye and glances at the screen, sees his mother getting undressed and hastily slams his eyes closed again. Shuddering, he smoothes his palm up the curve of his wife's waist. "I think we might have to. This is. . .too gross."

"Sure. Jack?" Kate grins and their son groans loudly, clambering up from the couch again and heading to change to a different disc.

Castle kisses Kate's cheek and pokes his daughter's shoulder to get her attention for a moment. "Let's all agree to never speak of this again. And _especially_ not to tell Gram, okay?"

"Relax, Castle." Kate laughs, turning her head to kiss him properly. The dog stands up and moves down the couch to curl in Kate's lap and she huffs at the weight of him, resting her cheek at Castle's bicep when he reaches around her to scratch behind the dog's ears. "No one's gonna tell her that we skipped her episodes."

"She'd be so upset." Bea pipes up, frowning at her parents.

Castle tugs on the end of his daughter's pigtail, offering her a reassuring smile. "Melodramatic, is what she'd be. Gram's feelings aren't easily hurt, baby girl. It's okay."

"Well we're not telling her anyway." Jack shrugs, sitting down again and draping his legs over Kate's calves. "Because no one outside of this room ever finds out I watched this dumb show."

* * *

**That's a wrap! My gratitude to Chole, Berkie, Lulu and Allie-bug who have put up with, quite frankly, a ridiculous amount of nonsense from me throughout the duration of this process. I love you all very much. Check my tumblr (I'm katiehoughton) for a list of the entire More Than Together universe in chronological order.**


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